
Laid-back Sam Malone, a former relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, owns and runs Cheers, a cozy bar in Boston. He hires smart, uptight -- and jilted -- Diane Chambers as a server, out of sympathy, but their attraction causes constant bickering. Wacky characters fill the bar: sarcastic waitress Carla, beer-loving accountant Norm, know-it-all postman Cliff. When Diane leaves Boston much later, Sam sells the bar, buys a boat and sails the world, but his boat sinks, so he returns. New, ambitious manager Rebecca Howe hires him back, but they love to hate each other too.

Norm is arrested for mail tampering after he agrees to take Cliff's route for a day.

Sam stands to lose the bar to an old friend because of a bet that he would marry Jacqueline Bisset before a certain date.

Sam's machismo offends a Boston reporter doing a story on the singles scene.

Diane Chambers ends up as a waitress in a Boston pub after she's dumped by her fiancée on the way to their Barbados wedding.