Max Medina gives Rory the first ""D"" of her life on an English paper. Paris taunts her non-stop about being a failure and gets Rory very stressed about an upcoming test on Shakespeare that will count for 20% of her English grade. Lorelai spends the week helping Rory study, and they both collapse exhausted at the kitchen table in the early morning hours of the day of the big test. Naturally, they oversleep. In her panic to get to school on time, Rory gets into a car accident -- she gets hit by a deer who runs into Lorelai's car at a stop sign. When she walks into class late, Max tells her that she can't take the test, and Rory has a meltdown, finally giving Paris and Tristan the chewing out they so richly deserve. Lorelai pleads Rory's case with the headmaster to no avail, and has her own meltdown, leaving with a few not-so-well-chosen insults to the headmaster and Chilton. On their way home, Rory insists that they stop and look for the deer to make sure it's all right and Loralei rea

During their weekly dinner at Emily's, Lorelai learns of her cousin Claudia's funeral, but as she didn't know the woman, she doesn't want to go. The next day Rory reminds Lorelai of the Chilton bake sale, and on their way out they meet their neighbors Babette and Morey out walking their cat Cinnamon. Dean surprises Rory at the bus stop and rides with her for a little bit, telling her ""Goodbye, Lorelai Gilmore"" as he leaves. At the Chilton bake sale, Lorelai sees Max Medina and is cold to him, but after he tells her that he wants to help Rory and be friends, she agrees to meet him for coffee. Rory ""accidentally"" runs into Dean at the market, and is teased by Miss Patty for it. Lorelai meets with Max, who says that they should date. Lorelai thinks it's a bad idea. Max proceeds to tell her that they are attracted to each other, and after a sad story about seizing the day, Lorelai agrees to dinner. Max leaves her with ""Goodbye, Lorelai Gilmore,"" leaving her just as flustered as Rory was wh

The first snow of the season falls heavily, stranding Rory at Emily and Richard's house and their cook at home, leaving Rory to make dinner and introduce her grandparents to the joys of frozen pizza with extra cheese. Luke is obsessing about the silliness of the re-enactment of the Battle of Stars Hollow in the town square, which basically consisted of twelve men who stood waiting all night for Redcoats who never arrived. He finally relents and makes amends to all by bringing them coffee. Lorelai is enjoying a walk alone in the snow when she comes upon Max, whose car has died in Stars Hollow on the way home from Stamford. She whisks him off for fiesta burgers and the movies, and they have a marvelous time on their first date. Luke gets a very pained expression on his face as he sees them walk through town arm-in-arm and kiss. When they arrive at Lorelai's house, their passionate embraces are interrupted by a distraught Lane, who was waiting there for Rory. Lorelai has a heart-to-heart

As Lorelai and Max grow closer, Rory begins to get attached to the idea of Max in their lives, which freaks Lorelai out; Sookie and Lorelai have a frank talk about relationships; Lorelai tries to ease out of her relationship with Max during Parent's Day at Chilton, but ends up passionately kissing him in his classroom just as Paris walks by; stung by the details in the newspapers about her parents' messy divorce, Paris tells everyone in the lunchroom about Max and Lorelai to deflect gossip away from her and towards Rory; Rory confronts Paris, gets an apology, and offers a sympathetic ear, which is grudgingly accepted; Sookie asks Jackson out on a date and he accepts.

Rory decides to engage in a flurry of activity to avoid thinking about Dean, despite Lorelai's advice to wallow; Lorelai runs interference as the residents of Stars Hollow reach out to console Rory and Luke attempts to bar Dean from the diner; Rachel pitches in to help Luke out at the diner; Jackson prepares dinner for Sookie, and has a tough time keeping her out of the kitchen; Rory decides to attend Madeline's party and takes Lane along for company; Lorelai decides to visit Max when she realizes how much she misses him; Lane is torn when she meets the perfect guy at the party; Rory attempts to befriend Tristan after he has very public breakup with his girlfriend at the party, and when he apologizes for his past bad behavior towards her and kisses her, she bursts into tears; at home, Rory sobs to Lorelai that she's ready to wallow now.

Lorelai helps Luke shop for a birthday present for Rachel and goes wild outfitting him with a new wardrobe; overwhelmed by sadness at her breakup with Dean, Rory is distressed to discover that Lane and Dean have become science project partners, and incensed to find out from Max that Lorelai has neglected to mention that they are dating again, so she argues with Lorelai and then takes off for Hartford to spend the night at her grandparents' house without telling her mother; when an angry Lorelai confronts Dean and discovers the truth about his breakup with Rory, she fears that she has taught Rory not to commit to a relationship.

Paris wreaks her revenge after Tristan lies about going to a concert with Rory; Rachel leaves Stars Hollow after she becomes convinced that despite his protests, Luke is in love with Lorelai; Rory's defense of the Stars Hollow troubadour during a town meeting brings her back together with Dean, enabling her to finally say, and mean, the words that he's been longing to hear; Luke and Max meet and engage in a little not-so-friendly rivalry as Max begins to suspect, despite her protests, that Lorelai and Luke were once an item; Max proposes to Lorelai with a thousand yellow daisies.

Lane freaks out when her parents buy her a one-way ticket to Korea for the summer; Luke gives Lorelai a lot to think about when she tells him about Max's proposal; Lorelai finally says ""yes"" to Max and tells everyone except her parents; when Rory brings Dean to a special dinner at her grandparents' house to celebrate making it into the top 3% at Chilton and Richard attacks Dean for not meeting Gilmore standards of excellence, Rory springs to Dean's defense and creates a rift between Richard and his granddaughter; Emily is heartbroken when she finds out about the wedding from Sookie instead of Lorelai.

Rory stresses out about being too far behind on extracurriculars, which puts a strain on her relationship with Dean; Henry expresses an interest in dating Lane; Richard and Rory patch up their differences; hurt over being the last to know, Emily gives Lorelai a frigid reception when her daughter finally tells her the good news; all of Stars Hollow turns out for Lorelai's and Max's engagement party.

Lorelai, Sookie, Emily, Michel, and Rory go to a drag club for Lorelai's bachelorette party; Emily regales the group with stories about the week before her wedding, some of which give Lorelai pause about her own feelings about marriage; when everyone else leaves to call their sweeties, Lorelai calls Christopher instead of Max; later that evening at home, Lorelai announces to Rory that she's calling the wedding off because she's realized that Max isn't the one for her; mother and daughter decide to take a road trip to avoid the sympathies of all of Stars Hollow.

Luke's sister Liz, afraid that her 17 year old son Jess is headed for trouble, puts him on a bus to Stars Hollow to live with Luke. Lorelai finds out and offers Luke some guidance on the care and feeding of a teenager, but is rebuffed. Undaunted, she hosts a dinner party for Jess, who is sullen and angry with everyone except Rory. At the first opportunity, he takes a beer from the fridge and sneaks out to the back porch. Lorelai finds him and gives him a lecture on how good he has it with Luke. Jess tells her what she can do with her little speech and then leaves. When Luke finds out about Lorelai's meddling, they quarrel and he goes to find Jess.

Taylor calls Luke the next day to accuse Jess of stealing money from the bridge fund container at the market. Luke confronts Jess about this accusation, and becomes so frustrated at his response that he shoves him into the lake. Realizing that he needs Lorelai's help, he goes to her house to patch things up, only to find that one of Babette's

Rory and Paris compete for the honor of speaking at Chilton's Bicentennial; Sookie and Jackson get some very good life (and diaper) changing news; Paris and Rory reconcile; Lorelai runs into Max and it's apparent that they're not quite over each other yet; Paris has a meltdown on national television when she fails to get into Harvard; Rory's college acceptance letters finally arrive; Paris isn't sure what to think about the latest development in her relationship with Jamie.

On their first free Friday night, Lorelai and Rory are at a loss over how to spend the evening, while Emily and Richard cavort at the party they're hosting; Lorelai is appointed Grad Night Treasurer and runs into a playing-it-cool Max at her first Chilton Booster Club meeting; Lane's band gets their first gig at a party and rocks the house, but Dave rocks Lane's world when he flips out after discovering that Young Chui is in love with her; a despondent Lane indulges in a little too much beer, and then drunkenly calls her mother and confesses all; when staff cutbacks at the Inn force Lorelai to do turn-down service, she becomes very unsettled at seeing a cozy Luke and Nicole in the room she's offered as thanks for Luke's help with repairs after the fire; Jess's inability to tell Rory that his frequent absences have caused him to flunk out of school and miss graduation and the prom prompts an argument between Jess and Rory, and then a full-blown brawl with Dean after Dean comes upon a te