NBC aired the final episode of the show on May 21, 1997. The episode's plot was a callback to the first episode of the series, in which Joe and Brian are left a suitcase by their father containing a picture of the two as boys and a note reading, "You're rich". In the finale, the brothers discover that not only does the lining of the suitcase contain money, but it sets them off on a treasure hunt which ends up making them $250,000 richer. They argue over what to do with the money; Joe wants to put it into the airline while Brian wants to use the money to retire and move away. Joe's resolve to stay on Nantucket is further tested by the news that Helen has been offered an opportunity to go to Vienna to study music.
The finale featured no guest stars. Most of the extras in the episode were writers and members of the production crew making cameo appearances.
In the final moments of the episode, Brian offers to run the airline for one year while Joe and Helen are in Europe. With Joe's portion of the money, they retire the mortgage on their first airplane, acquire a second airplane, and purchase access to more airline routes, thus doubling the airline's size and rebuffing Roy's desire to "tear down this lemonade stand of a business", as Joe had initially agreed to sell him Sandpiper Air. Helen leaves her lunch counter, while Casey, Helen's sister, having told off everyone on the island, has nowhere to work and no means of supporting herself. Helen steers her toward her old lunch counter, a fate Casey cannot believe, to which Helen says she felt the same way at first. The final scene shows Joe flying Helen to Boston so they can get a connecting flight to Vienna, Austria.