Luke and Lorelai go on their official first date at a restaurant owned by old friends of Luke's parents. Luke reminds Lorelai of how they met, shows her a horoscope she gave him for good luck that he's kept in his wallet, and assures her that he intends to go the distance with her. Lorelai spends the night at Luke's place; in the morning, she goes down to the diner to get coffee, and the breakfast crowd sees her wearing only Luke's shirt. There's suprisingly little gossip about Luke and Lorelai until the next town meeting, where Taylor uses charts to show how disasterous a breakup between them would be for Stars Hollow. Meanwhile: Rory meets a rich Yale student named Logan and chews him out for being rude to her friend Marty; Paris holds a wake for Asher that all the guests assume is a keg party with a weird theme; and Emily freaks out when she discovers that Richard has a social life she doesn't know about, so she invades Rory's dorm during the wake.

After Kirk spills the beans that her daughter is dating Luke, Emily demands that Lorelai bring him to dinner so that they can get reacquainted; although Lorelai tries to warn him away, Luke goes anyway and is subjected to an evening of oblique insults from a passive-aggressive Emily; after Zach announces that he's ready to start going out with Lane, they spend a cozy first date at home after banishing Brian to Lane's bedroom; having not learned his lesson with Emily, Luke agrees to accept Richard's invitation to go golfing, and both men turn a deaf ear to Lorelai's pleas to cancel; Rory gets her story on the ""Life and Death Brigade"" by being blindfolded and whisked away by Logan and his friends to observe the elaborately staged weekend in the woods, and finally, after Logan encourages her to take a risk, to participate in the event's breathtaking finale.

After Emily discovers that Rory is seeing Dean again, she calls a temporary truce with Richard so that they can jointly host a Yale alumni party whose express purpose is to find a suitable match for their unsuspecting granddaughter; Liz and T.J. buy a house in Stars Hollow; Mrs. Kim flips out after Kyon tells her that Lane and Zach hugged in Luke's Diner; when the pressures of being new homeowners lead Liz and T.J. to quarrel, T.J. seeks refuge with his brother-in-law, and ruins the romantic dinner and evening Luke prepared for Lorelai; Logan appears at the party just in time to rescue Rory from yet another prospective bridegroom, and Rory learns that he's very well acquainted with her grandparents; Lane leads Kyon over to the culinary dark side and reveals the secrets to living a happy teenage life at the Kim house; Dean realizes that he no longer fits into Rory's life, and Logan gallantly steps in to dry her tears.

Miss Patty celebrates forty years in show business on the same day that Luke mourns his father's death; Terrence's urging Paris to get on with her life prompts her to try speed dating, where she hooks up with Doyle; Marty finally clues Rory in that both he and Logan are interested in her; Lorelai's attempt to do something nice for Luke backfires; Rory enlists Richard in turning the practical joke table back on Logan; at Headmaster Charleston's request, Rory happily gives Anna, a Chilton student and prospective Eli, the Yale grand tour, but the immature Anna manages to get both herself and her host in trouble with her party-crazed ways.

Lorelai does her best to get Luke to not give up on them after the awful events at the wedding. Luke tells her he needs some time and Lorelai can't take it. Rory asks Logan to hang out with her but is upset that when she gets to his place that there are a lot of people there. She gets a call from Sookie who tells her that Lorelai is in bad shape after Luke told her that he didn't think he could be in this relationship. Rory doesn't have a car, but Logan lets her borrow his car and driver. Taylor has the whole town taking sides for either Luke or Lorelai. After taking care of her mom Rory goes back to Yale to work things out with Logan, making sure he understood that the hanging out didn't just mean hanging out, it meant alone time.

Still smarting from her split with Luke, Lorelai is further stung when she notices that Luke has moved his boat. Meanwhile, Luke volunteers to build the sets for a school production of ""Fiddler on the Roof,"" knowing that Lorelai is doing costumes, in hopes that their paths will cross. Meanwhile, at Yale, Rory plans to reconnect with Marty (Wayne Wilcox) to watch Marx Brothers movies, but Logan interrupts their day by inviting them to dinner with his group.

Now that Luke and Lorelai are back together, Lorelai can come into the diner, and she adds herself to Luke's speed dial. They make a date for Sunday to celebrate getting back together. Meanwhile, Kirk has stationed himself at the diner and is collecting the pink and blue ribbons which citizens of Stars Hollow used to wear. Rory and Logan are still dating, however not exclusively. Rory and Lorelai see him with another girl while they are shopping in downtown New Haven. Lorelai wants to go over and yell at Logan, but Rory informs her that it's OK - even though she doesn't look as if she really thinks it is OK. She tells Lorelai that they are just dating and allowed to see other people. Emily and Richard assume that since Emily gave instructions to Luke to get back together with Lorelai everything must be all set now. However, they are surprised to see only Rory show up for Friday dinner. They wonder whether Luke and Lorelai have gotten back together and end up assuming that Luke did

Lorelai picks Rory up from the police station and takes her home. Rory explains that the boat theft was not Logan's idea and Lorelai should not blame him. Logan finds out that his father upset Rory and says he will have a talk with his father, but Rory begs him not to. Rory decides that she will not go back to Yale next year. Lorelai does not like this idea and goes to her parents for help. Rory moves in with Richard and Emily. Show ends with a proposal.

Luke answers Lorelai's question and as news of Luke's reply leaks to the denizens of Stars Hollow, the untraditional proposal stirs up more talk than the answer itself. Richard and his lawyer go to bat for Rory in court for her yacht incident, but the judge is tougher than expected.

After months of separation, Sookie tries to reconcile Rory and Lorelai by asking them to be the godmothers of her two children. However, they both end up fighting when Lorelai realizes that Rory didn't see fit to share her new cell phone number with her.

Rory is pleasantly surprised when her old flame Jess appears at her grandparents' house and reveals an amazing development in his life. Rory agrees to go to dinner with Jess, and when Logan unexpectedly joins them, an ugly confrontation develops, leaving both Rory and Logan to face the choices they have made. Emily is concerned about Rory's sudden evasiveness and tries to exert some parental discipline. Meanwhile, Luke agrees to sponsor a local girls’ soccer team and Lorelai channels all her concerns about Rory into caring for her dog, Paul Anka

The Prodigal Daughter Returns is the name of an episode for the American comedy-drama series Gilmore Girls.

Although Rory and Logan are back together, Logan is miserable knowing that Rory hasn't really forgiven him, and he takes off with his friends for another stunt with the Life and Death Brigade. Rory accepts Jess's invitation to attend an open house at his new book store/art gallery/publishing house in Philadelphia. While there, she is surprised to run into Luke, who is accompanying his daughter April on an academic field trip.

Super Cool Party People is the name of an episode for the American comedy-drama series Gilmore Girls.

Stars Hollow needs a new town troubadour and there are many hopeful people trying out, much to Taylor's dislike. Lorelai finally confronts Luke about their long engagement and Rory and Logan spend their last night together before he must go to London.