Offers of dates ensue when Lorelai and Sookie attend a seminar on operating an inn and run into two handsome men -- an old friend of Sookie's and his business partner; Lorelai unsuccessfully resists being deposed when her mother is sued by a former maid for wrongful termination; after Rory and Francie butt heads at the student council meeting, Francie proposes a truce and then immediately lies to Paris that Rory is trying to undermine her; Paris is crushed that her best friend has betrayed her and lashes out at her during their fencing class, leaving Rory ostracized by the rest of the student body.

Luke is opposed to having Taylor's attorney Nicole oversee the paperwork for the construction of the new soda shop until he meets the attractive redhead, who takes as immediate a shine to Luke as he does to her; Lane's clever scheme to get her mother's permission to attend the prom horribly backfires; Luke offers to teach Lorelai the fine art of angling after Alex invites her to go fishing; Rory and Lorelai clear out their garage for Lane's band and Lorelai gains a new admirer from the band; Lane and Rory have some hearts-to-hearts about the men in their lives; Paris's ratcheting up the conflict between her and Rory when she calls for Rory's impeachment by the student council is brought to a swift end by Headmaster Charleston, who threatens to revoke the glowing letters he wrote to Harvard for each of them.

Emily guilts Rory into bringing Jess to a Friday night dinner which turns out to be an unqualified disaster; Lorelai, Alex, Sookie and Jackson go to New York for the weekend; Jess gets a black eye in an altercation with an opponent he is too embarassed to reveal to anyone but Luke; Zach and Brian realize that Lane and Dave are hiding something from them, but miss the mark on the true nature of the secret; Rory and Jess have their first argument, and Luke helps patch things up.