Lane sneaks out of the house when Gil gets the band a 1:00 a.m. gig at CBGB’s; Luke and Lorelai take matters into their own hands when newly restored church bells turn out to be less welcome than originally anticipated; Rory gets personal with William during a political discussion when she suspects that he’s been spreading embarrassing stories about her; Lorelai is initially distressed when she learns that Luke has moved to Litchfield to live with Nicole, but a visit to his apartment over the diner dispels her worries; Lane and her mother have a long-overdue talk with life-changing consequences after Mrs. Kim discovers her daughter’s secret life.

Luke has his hands full as family members return to Stars Hollow: Liz for her high school reunion, and Jess for his car; Lane busies herself at Yale by being the suite’s Helpful Hannah; Lorelai agrees to accompany Jason on an office furniture shopping trip on his morning off, but the press of international business calls keeps getting in the way; Jamie’s in town, and Paris keeps avoiding him; Lorelai and Jason agree that Emily and Richard need to be told about their relationship, but Lorelai just can’t bring herself to do it after Emily mocks both Jason and the idea that he would ever hit it off with her daughter; Rory’s finally speaking her mind on Paris’s romantic entanglements backfires when Paris decides she has a future with Asher and breaks up with Jamie; Rory becomes concerned that her mother is having financial problems; when Lorelai and Rory discover Jess sleeping in his car in the freezing cold after an argument with his uncle, Lorelai intercedes on his behalf with Luke, who relents and allows Jess to come inside while Luke spends the night in Litchfield.

Jess’ attempts to keep a low profile until Gypsy completes the repairs on his car are put to the test as he keeps bumping into Rory all over town; Taylor puts Kirk in charge of the annual Firelight Festival, and his managerial skills, or lack thereof, place a strain on the preparations; Lane follows Rory back to Stars Hollow and a place on the Gilmore couch for the weekend, but isn’t quite ready to face her mother; Emily is in a dither about filling a table at a benefit and enlists the help of Lorelai and Jason, whom she encourages to pretend that they’re a couple; Luke is less than impressed by Liz’s latest business venture and newly-arrived boyfriend, which prompts Jess to give his uncle an earful about minding his own business; after Lorelai and Liz finally meet, Lorelai gets a renewed perspective on Luke; Liz’s high school classmates descend upon her brother and reveal long-held crushes on him; Richard is suspicious when Jason’s father greets his son at the benefit and doesn’t inquire about the business; Lorelai fixes Luke’s broken heart after his confrontation with Jess while Luke fixes Lorelai’s broken window; Liz and T.J. end their visit to Stars Hollow, but not before T.J. has a few choice words for Luke; Jess makes a startling confession to Rory before he leaves town.

When Trix returns to town and berates Lorelai and Richard for being financial failures, Richard angrily sets his mother straight, to Emily’s delight; Lorelai and Sookie explore ways to ease their financial crunch and raise money to pay their construction crew, one of whom is now Dean; Janet and Paris go head-to-head over the constant presence of Janet’s boyfriend in the suite; Lorelai and Rory play an increasingly frustrating game of telephone tag; after Paris, Tanna, and Janet complain about close quarters in the suite, Lane moves out of the dorm and in with Lorelai, and gets her job back at Luke’s; Lorelai and Sookie have a heated discussion about sharing the responsibilities of opening their inn; Rory is distraught when one of her professors tells her to drop a class because she can’t handle her course load; Lane runs into her mother and receives a frosty reception; at the end of a very long, hard day, Lorelai and Rory still can’t manage to connect, and end up taking solace in the arms of the married men in their lives, Luke for Lorelai, and Dean for Rory.