2 Broke Girls (season 1)

Russian waitress Paulina is fired from the diner by new Korean boss Han after she had sex at work. African-American cashier Earl is celebrating his 75th birthday. Max, a hardworking waitress, soon finds herself helping out Paulina's replacement Caroline, who until recently was very wealthy, but has been left with nothing after her father was sent to prison. Caroline is homeless, so Max invites her to be her roommate. Their new friendship is in jeopardy when Max's boyfriend Robbie (Noah Mills) hits on Caroline, and she suggests that Max split up with him. Max takes her advice; Caroline moves into Max's apartment and Caroline's horse, Chestnut, moves into Max's yard.

Caroline thinks she is doing Max a favor when she takes it upon herself to facilitate her breakup with Robbie. This leads to an increasing dispute over boundaries that threatens to end their new friendship. However, in the end, a very drunk Caroline apologizes to Max and they fall asleep together.

Max takes Caroline thrift shopping. After seeing a shirt stolen from Max's basket worn by another woman, Caroline persists in standing up for Max despite her indifference, and the two try to reconcile their different notions of what girlfriends do and do not do for each other. A struggling street artist, Johnny, catches Max's attention with his similarly sarcastic sense of humor.

Max is for once overwhelmed and impressed when she sees how Caroline once lived when the two break into her old townhouse to retrieve her bite-guard. She insists on staying to enjoy the bath, and begins to realize that despite their very different upbringings, Caroline has some things in common with her. They steal several coats and handbags from the house. At the diner, Han installs a karaoke machine, much to Max's disliking.

After discovering how many debts Max is dodging, Caroline resolves to clean up her roommate's credit by repaying a student loan that Max will not reveal in what it is majored. Max later tells Caroline that she studied art. They host a 1990s-themed party at the diner after they discover that hipsters will pay a lot of money to ride Chestnut. Caroline's ex-boyfriend shows up, so she hides from him in order to prevent him to know that she is now poor.

Different events test Caroline and Max's ability to do things for themselves. Caroline had solicited Johnny to help her assemble a Murphy bed she got for the apartment, but Max challenges her to do it herself so that she can follow up on a "weird" interaction between herself and Johnny at the diner.

Max herself tries to work up the courage to give Peach a business card for the cupcake business.

When Caroline's effort to sell cupcakes to a trendy new coffee shop in the neighborhood fails after the owner says they are not pretty enough, she persuades Max to take a cupcake-decorating class. Max, however, is despondent over her ability to meet the standards of the obnoxious instructors. The girls get their first job after a gay couple see Max's insulting cupcake idea.

Max and Caroline take a job cleaning a hoarder's apartment for the extra money and find items they can sell. While out with Johnny spray painting a billboard, Max tries to kiss him but is unsuccessful. Later, on the street, she runs into him with a woman named Cashandra ("Cash"), whom he introduces as his girlfriend.

Johnny apologizes to Max for not telling her about his girlfriend, but Max is despondent nonetheless. Cash then hires Max and Caroline to make cupcakes for an art show at which Johnny's painting of he and Max in a passionate embrace is among the works shown. The two soon realize that Cashandra is trying to make a point to Max and must choose between their money and their dignity.

Caroline and Max spend Caroline's first broke holiday season working as elves at a department store's Santaland to earn extra money. Max is initially cynical about Christmas, while Caroline, filled with happy childhood memories, is enthusiastic. However, when her hopes of seeing her father are dashed, and Max is unexpectedly promoted to playing Mrs. Claus, their viewpoints change.

With winter approaching, Max persuades Caroline that Chestnut cannot live in their backyard anymore. However, Caroline balks at her plan to persuade Peach to adopt Chestnut, since it is part of Peach's scheme to be cast in The Real Housewives of TriBeCa.

After Max and Caroline struggle to light the pilot light of their oven, Caroline tries to raise money for a new one by selling her jewelry, first at the cash-for-gold store and then at the upscale jewelry stores she once frequented. Encountering hostility from a clerk who remembers Caroline all too well, the pair decide the best option is a pop-up sale in the women's bathroom. Caroline abandons Max there with some wealthy Arab women when some of her former friends recognize her and ask her to lunch, severely testing Max and Caroline's friendship.

Max starts a protest when Han triples the price of tampons in the diner's restroom. Caroline discovers the secret ingredient to Max's cupcakes and develops a new obsession: couponing.

Max and Caroline are suspicious of the new upstairs neighbor, Sophie (Jennifer Coolidge), who moves in after the previous tenant dies. Their attempts to make friends with her backfire, and they fear that she will report them to the landlord as illegal sub-letters. They start to believe that Sophie could be a prostitute.

Sophie tests Max and Caroline to see if they are adept enough to work as maids for her cleaning business. She is impressed by Max but not Caroline, and suggests privately to Max that Caroline is holding her back and she should let go of her. Max resists the suggestion at first, but when Caroline carelessly ruins a batch of cupcakes, Max finds herself wondering if Sophie has a point.

Caroline and Max find themselves spending Valentine's Day in the emergency room when Earl has a heart attack, after being overwhelmed by Sophie's beauty. While there, Caroline attempts to rekindle an old relationship unsuccessfully.

Max and Caroline have to make kosher cupcakes for an Orthodox Jewish family's bar mitzvah. Meanwhile, Caroline worries she might be getting sick, since she lacks the resources she used to have to deal with health problems. Caroline is harassed by the boy having the bar mitzvah and his friend who treat her like a prostitute.

After a surprise birthday party for Caroline bombs, Max runs into an ex-boyfriend when she accompanies Caroline to visit her father in jail. The girls make some friends on the prison bus.

Max and Caroline take a spring getaway dog-sitting at a gay couple's posh apartment. A series of parties tempts Caroline with reminders of her former life. Max starts a relationship with a bacon baker man and Ashley, Caroline's spring break alter ego, flirts with a beer brewer. Max develops a new flavor cupcake, beer batter maple bacon.

Caroline's old family lawyer stops by to inform her she is being deposed by the prosecution in her father's case. Since he cannot represent her for free, Max convinces Caroline to partake in a clinical drug trial in an effort to raise money for his fee. The side effects from the drug ruin her appointment with the lawyer.

After Caroline helps Earl save money on his taxes, Max asks her roommate to help her. Caroline does, but discovers that Max has never filed a tax return. Her efforts to help Max organize her finances put the two at odds, and risk of missing the midnight deadline.

Max and Caroline must deliver perfect cupcakes to Peach's socialite friends if Max wants to keep her babysitting job. However, they get ruined after a subway delay, and Max must make some choices about her future.

A major opportunity for Max and Caroline falls through when her father's move to a new prison brings her story into the news again. Caroline lies in bed depressed until Max brings Chestnut to cheer her up. After learning Martha Stewart will be attending the Met Ball, they concoct a scheme to get her to try their cupcakes. Max's mood is then affected when Johnny, whose art has become more successful, comes into the diner to say goodbye to her as he is moving to Manhattan and getting married. Sophie takes the girls dress shopping. Final tally for cupcake business venture: $922.00

After Sophie helps them get proper evening clothing, the girls are forced to ride Chestnut to the ball when Oleg's car breaks down. They are stymied by the same party planner who rejected them in Part 1, as Caroline is not on the list. Max, however, comes up with a plan to sneak in. Han reveals that he used to be a jockey.