At the urging of her friends, Emily decides that Rory's making her debut at a society ball will be just the thing to get Richard back into the social swing. To Lorelai's amazement, Rory willingly agrees and Emily goes into high gear shopping in preparation. Christopher agrees to escort Rory and Lorelai becomes entranced by his new responsible side, but gets a shock when she learns about his new relationship.

Lorelai and Sookie gear up their plans to open an inn, but encounter a roadblock when the owner of their dream location refuses to sell the property. The unexpected arrival of Mia, the absentee owner of the Independence Inn, complicates matters even further when Lorelai begins to experience pangs of guilt at leaving Mia with the responsibility of running the Inn again. When Lorelai finally summons up the courage to tell her about their plans, Mia is supportive and enthusiastic, and announces that this was just the opportunity she was waiting for to sell the Inn. Lorelai is saddened at this news and tells Emily how much the Inn means to her as the place where she and Rory grew up together, oblivious to the pain she is causing her mother. Lorelai's emotional turmoil culminates with having her first ever argument with Sookie. After a pep talk from Luke, Lorelai apologizes to Sookie and recommits to their friendship and partnership. Stung by the loss of years and memories while Lorelai and Rory lived at the Inn, Emily decides to meet Mia, the woman who was such an important part of their lives then. Mia explains that she took them in to give them a place to feel safe, while Emily explains that she wanted Mia to send them home. Emily asks Mia if she has any pictures of the girls from those days, and Mia eagerly agrees to send them to her right away. Someone has planted a fake murder scene at the front of Doose's market, complete with police tape and the chalk outline of a body. Naturally, this gets Taylor in a dither; after scouring Stars Hollow looking for the culprit, he confronts Luke at the diner and accuses Jess. Luke jumps to Jess's defense and throws Taylor out. Later that evening, Luke, Lorelai, Rory and Mia stumble upon a secret town meeting where Jess is accused once more and Luke is vilified for bringing him into town. Luke stands behind his nephew again, supported by Lorelai. The next day, Rory tells Jess that she knows he's really the culprit, and that he's being a jerk for letting Luke take all the heat from everyone in Stars Hollow. After Jess gets her to admit that it was a pretty funny prank after all, he agrees to lighten up and be more considerate of Luke's feelings.