This nostalgic family comedy, which series creator Gary David Goldberg loosely based on his own childhood, chronicles life in 1956 Brooklyn, N.Y., from the perspective of Alan Silver, a middle-class Jewish 14-year-old who shares an apartment with his parents -- George, a postal worker, and Phyllis, who also works outside the home -- and his younger brother, Nathaniel. Phyllis' parents, Jules and Sophie, live in the same building. Alan is dating Katie Monahan, a Catholic girl, which is hard for his grandmother to accept, although in every other respect Sophie is stern but loving and tolerant.