Sam Time Next Year

Plot:

It's Valentine's Day, and it doesn't seem to be going well for anyone. The Drs. Crane are trying to bring their respective therapy groups - Frasier's a group of shy men, Lilith's a group of shy women - together as part of their therapy. They try party games to get the men and women together, games such as passing the orange from chin to chin, Twister and Spin the Bottle, to no avail. Rebecca is depressed as after the recent break-up with Robin, she has no man in her life and thus no one to give her a Valentine. Just before midnight, Cliff comes to the rescue and gives Rebecca the Valentine he was going to give to his Ma. However Cliff wants a little action in return. Rebecca takes him up on his bluff and plants a deep kiss on Cliff, which transforms him into catatonic state for the rest of the evening. And Sam, who has had an on-going "only on Valentine's Day" date with Lauren Hudson for the past twenty years, slips and throws out his back just before he is off to see her. In such a state, Sam is unable to perform sexually, although he does his darnedest to hide his injury from Lauren and to make the most of his once a year tryst with her. Ultimately, he confesses to Lauren regarding his injury and they end up spending a memorable albeit sexless night together discussing their lives, especially their aging lives and the fact that Sam is only one of a series of "one night a year" men in Lauren's life. At the end of the evening, the only ones who had a satisfying sexual evening are Frasier and Lilith, who in the course of encouraging their therapy groups, end up turning themselves on.