Jerry is dating Melissa, a woman who is comfortable being naked in his apartment in nonsexual contexts. While initially amused by Melissa's quirk, he finds that certain commonplace actions, such as coughing and squatting, make her nudity repulsive. Jerry plans to make Melissa understand his revulsion by using a belt sander while naked, but Melissa objects to his nudity before he even turns on the sander. Jerry convinces Melissa to wear clothes more often, but Jerry and Melissa now cannot stop picturing each other naked, straining their relationship. George learns that his childhood friend Jason Hanky is a recovering alcoholic and, as Step 9 of Alcoholics Anonymous's Twelve Steps, is apologizing for all his misdeeds. George gets angry when Jason moves on to Step 10 without apologizing for embarrassing him at a party a few years earlier. George asked to borrow his sweater, and Jason refused, saying the neck would be stretched out, which made everyone else laugh. When George broaches the subject, Jason refuses to apologize, saying that his concern about his sweater was sincere. George petitions Jason's sponsor to intervene; his anger over the old embarrassment instead convinces the sponsor to enroll George in an anger management class. Jason goes to the anger management class after snapping at George and some teenagers at his job at an ice cream shop. He and George have another confrontation at the meeting. After Jerry informs Kramer that his hour-long showers are not normal, Kramer attempts to reduce his time showering. He cuts it down to a half-hour, but only by not rinsing off the lather or drying off. Jerry gives him some pointers on more efficient showering, but refuses his request for a personal demonstration, and when Kramer tries observing in a public shower he is mistaken for a voyeur, given a black eye, and ejected. Frustrated at these failures, he decides that since he enjoys showers so much, he should go the other direction and spend all his time showering. He buys a waterproof phone, and installs a garbage disposal in his bathtub drain so that he can prepare meals in the shower. Elaine notices her co-worker Peggy puts sanitary paper on a toilet only used by the two of them, yet she is clearly not a germophobe because she finishes off another co-worker's half-drunk water bottle. When Elaine confronts her about this, she says Elaine disgusts her because she is sexually promiscuous. Insulted, Elaine rubs Peggy's keyboard on her buttocks and her stapler under her armpit, and coughs on her doorknob. Peggy calls in sick the next day, but Elaine insists her illness must be psychosomatic. David Puddy agrees, and accompanies Elaine to Peggy's to convince her to come back to work. He reveals to Peggy that he is a recovering germophobe and persuades her that she is one too. Elaine makes up with Peggy by inviting her over for a dinner cooked by Kramer. When Kramer reveals that he prepared the dinner while showering, they are all horrified. David has to go back to Germophobes Anonymous, with Peggy and Elaine now joining him.