Henry and Muriel Rush are owners of a two-unit house at 171–173 Buena Vista Avenue East San Francisco, California. Henry is a conservative cartoonist who authors a comic strip called Cosmic Cow with a hand-puppet version of "Cosmic Cow." Muriel is a freelance photographer. They have two adult daughters, Jackie and Sara. Additional characters include Sara's friend, Monroe Ficus, and Henry's boss, Arthur Wainwright, who was head of Wainwright Publishing and Monroe (who was originally intended to be used for only a single episode but the producers added the character to the series.)
