Picking up 10 years after 'The Future Homemakers of America' left off, 'The Early Birds' follows Peggy, Kath, Gayle, Lois, and Audrey through the turn of the 21st century. The women are now in their 70s and time is rendering its accounts payable: arthritis, cataracts, forgetfulness and departures. From the dawn of the new millennium - at which the anti-Christ unaccountably fails to appear, despite evangelist Gayle's predictions - Peggy soldiers on through new upheavals, including her ex-husband Vern's Alzheimer's diagnosis, and the death of one of her live-in friends.