 One afternoon, Dr. Sumner Sloan, a Boston University English professor, and his Teaching Assistant, Diane Chambers, stop into Cheers, a local Boston watering hole, on their way to catch a flight to Barbados where they plan to marry the following day. The bar is owned and tended by Sam  May Day  Malone, a former relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, a recovered alcoholic, and in the words of one of his girlfriends "a magnificent pagan beast". Before heading to the airport, Sumner wants to retrieve his grandmother s wedding ring to give to Diane, the ring currently in the possession of his ex-wife Barbara. While Sumner is off getting the ring, Diane patiently waits at the bar for his return, in the meantime learning about the lives of the many Cheers regulars, and they learning about Diane. Sumner returns to the bar, ring-less, however admits that seeing Barbara has ignited old feelings for her. Despite that, he and Diane are just about ready to depart for the airport when Barbara calls and offers the ring, to which Sumner quickly returns to his ex-wife, this return to her being in more ways than one. As the day turns into evening, Diane worries that Sumner has reconciled with his ex-wife, although Sam and his bartender s intuition know that is the case. When Diane finds that Sumner has run off to Barbados with Barbara, Sam offers Diane a job at the bar: Sam needs a waitress, he believes Diane needs a job since she can t return to working for Sumner, she isn t qualified to do anything else, and most importantly in Sam s estimation "the words  magnificent pagan beast " had not left her brain since she walked into the bar. This job starts Diane s fish-out-of-water association with Cheers, its employees and patrons.