After five years playing Mary Richards' neighbor, friend, and landlady on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Cloris Leachman began her own spin-off series. Phyllis Lindstrom returned home to her hometown of San Francisco following the death of her husband Lars. In her mid-40s, and with a teenage daughter to support, Phyllis moved in with Lars' scatter-brained mother, Audrey, and Audrey's second husband, Judge Jonathan Dexter. Phyllis found a job working as an assistant to Julie Erskine at Erskine's Commercial Photography Studio.