Dawson is a freshman film student in Los Angeles, while Joey starts college at an Ivy League university in Boston. Instead of focusing on the new lives they have worked a lifetime for, they find themselves distracted by the distance between them and their unsettling last kiss.

Dawson and Jen realize that living together is not as much fun as they hoped to be. Between ruined toothbrushes and bathroom overcrowding, they're getting on each other's nerves. Jen faces a new challenge at work after she turns her regular show into an advice show. She mainly gives advice to other girls with problems, and makes statements on men that hurt Dawson's feelings. She comes home expecting a fight, but Dawson surprises her saying he won't fight or lie or cheat on her. Meanwhile, Melanie (Pacey's summer flame) shows up offering Pacey a job working with her uncle's new boat around the Greek Islands. After a lot of thinking, Pacey decides not to go, since he has developed a successful life in Boston working at the Civilization. Jack moves into the fraternity house and gets his own room, but has some problems staying there after he discovers he was supposed to be rooming with another guy who felt uncomfortable living with a gay guy. And Joey decides to give Elliott Sawyer another

It's Dawson's first day in his new film school. Oliver (the somewhat obnoxious filmmaker Dawson met on the film festival) starts showing him around and wastes no time in asking Dawson to direct a movie he wrote. Reluctant to direct someone else's work, Dawson starts giving notes to Oliver on the script, and ends up accepting the job, thanks to Jen's incentive. Jen, on the other hand, is having some problems of her own. Her current state of happiness from the wonderful relationship with Dawson is reflecting on her on-air performance. Now she has to go back to the sharp-tongued, edgy advices she used to give instead of the romantic, love-themed ones. Meanwhile, Elliot finally has the courage to ask Joey out, but Joey makes second plans for a gathering with professor Wilder. She makes a fake excuse not to go out with Elliot, and her evening takes an unexpected turn when she and professor Wilder kiss. Elsewhere, Jack is reprehended by his brothers for being on academic probation. Irritated