Machiavellian House Speaker Templeton meddles in the new president's search for a vice president; Mac's press secretary, Kelly Ludlow, gets a rude introduction to her new job; and Mac's teen daughter, Rebecca, can't find her diary, which has some things in it that her mother wouldn't want to be public knowledge.

While Mac holds her very delicate first summit with a Russian leader (and First Gentleman Rod hosts his first state dinner), Templeton tries to engineer a mass resignation of Cabinet members and vows to run against Mac in the next election. Meanwhile, Rebecca wants to skip the dinner: She'd rather "study" with a boy she's interested in.