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.

Serena returns from her trip to Spain with Poppy and Gabriel. Blair makes a secret deal with Nate's grandfather. Dan takes a job to earn money for college.

Olivia says something she regrets during her appearance on Jimmy Fallon’s talkshow and tries to keep Dan from finding out. With election day around the corner, Nate suspects his grandfather will stop at nothing to get Trip elected to congress. In the midst of another feud with Serena, Blair befriends a new “it” girl and takes her to an election night party at Chuck’s hotel, hoping to make Serena jealous.

Hoping to impress the elitist theater kids at NYU, Blair sets her sights on landing a private concert with the hottest musical performer of the year, Lady Gaga. Dan and Olivia sign up to write and star in a school play, based on an idea by Blair and directed by Vanessa. With Blair out of the picture, Serena turns to Nate to help her get through a difficult situation. As a favor to Chuck, Jenny agrees to hang out with Damien, the son of an ambassador who is staying at Chuck's hotel, but the experience proves to be a lot more intriguing than she expected.

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.

On the anniversary of Bart Bass’ death, Chuck wrestles with an issue from the past and a serious car accident rocks the Upper East Side. Dan and Vanessa attempt to navigate their newly complicated friendship. When Jenny is accused of beating up one of her classmates, Eric is faced with a tough dilemma.