The friends are looking forward to getting together and celebrating Phoebe's birthday. However, on the day of the party, Ross struggles to convince Rachel to leave Emma with Mrs. Geller babysitting, and Monica and Chandler get into an argument, after Monica discovers that he's been smoking. All of this causes them to be incredibly late, leaving Phoebe and Joey alone at a restaurant with a table for six.

Everyone in the gang gets a little upset when Chandler announces that he'll be spending Christmas and New Year's Eve in Tulsa because of work. To make matters worse, Monica gets quite jealous when she finds out that one of Chandler's co-workers is a former Miss Oklahoma runner-up. After doing some retrospection, Chandler decides to quit his job.