At the Snowflake dance, Blair and Chuck discover their lookalikes hooking up. Aaron's ex Lexi flirts with Dan, causing trouble with Serena. Nate, Jenny and Vanessa get into a messy love triangle that involves a stolen letter and a revealing dress. Bart Bass suffers a car accident on his way to the ball.

Devastated by the turn her life has taken, Blair opts for a wild lifestyle instead of her perfect Waldorf life, causing Chuck and Serena to become concerned. Vanessa tries to convince Nate that he needs to move on after his mother's family, the Vanderbilts, abandoned him and his mother. Trying to be honest with each other, Lily and Rufus both put together their lists of past relationships.

Blair and Chuck face-off when the both set their sights on an item up for bid at Sotheby's. Serena begins to think that Carter may have returned to his old habits, Georgina becomes interested in Dan, and Vanessa thinks that something is wrong with Scott.

It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving on the Upper East Side if there wasn’t a serving or two of some major drama for the holiday. Blair suspects her mom has been keeping a big secret from her, but it turns out to be something else entirely. Vanessa is supposed to spend Thanksgiving with her parents, but has a fight with her mom and shows up on Dan’s doorstep. Rufus learns that Lily has been lying to him about her mother, Cece. Chuck tells Nate that he has some potentially damaging information about one of their friends. Jenny learns that Eric was behind her very public embarrassment at Cotillion and can’t pass up a chance to get even. Serena is put in a very awkward position when her mother invites Trip and Maureen to join them for Thanksgiving dinner.

Rufus and Lily grow suspect of Jenny’s relationship with Damien. Chuck learns more about the woman who may or may not be his mother. Dan and Vanessa struggle through the awkwardness of dating other people.

When Lily’s ex-husband, Dr. William van der Woodsen, shows up unexpectedly in Manhattan, Serena finally gets the reunion she has so desperately wanted with her father, but the circumstances turn out to be far from ideal. When Serena and Nate continue to have relationship issues, a scheming Jenny is more than happy to be a shoulder for Nate to lean on... Meanwhile, Dan finds out that he didn’t get accepted into the Tisch writing program and Vanessa admits she may have been somewhat responsible.

An anonymous Gossip Girl blast starts a very damaging rumor about one of Columbia's new students, Serena. On her path to greatness, Blair decides to take a class with a powerful businesswoman, Martha, who is guest-lecturing at Columbia, but a mysterious fellow student thwarts her plans to secure the prized position as Martha's assistant.

Ben’s mother comes to town, forcing issues to the surface between Ben and Serena. Russell Thorpe is determined to destroy Chuck’s family legacy, but he risks alienating his daughter, Raina, in the process. Billy Baldwin returns as William van der Woodsen, Lily’s ex-husband and Serena and Eric’s father.