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.

Lorelai’s grandmother arrives in Hartford unexpectedly on Richard’s birthday and announces that she’s moving back, throwing Emily into a tizzy until she follows Lorelai’s advice on how to manage her mother-in-law; Rory declares war on Francie after she pulls a runaround on Paris with the Student Council; Paris finds herself in love after spending Christmas vacation with Jamie’s family; after Rory and Dean bump into each other a few times, they decide to be friends again; Jess initially declines Rory’s offer to attend the Stars Hollow High Winter Carnival, but changes his mind after they run into Dean and his sister Clara, who invites Rory to join them; Jess gets Dean alone at the carnival and lets him know that he’s wise to his plans to get Rory back.

It’s Thanksgiving, and Lorelai and Rory have dinner at four different places: the Kim’s, where Lane has managed to get Dave invited and Lorelai is forced to eat tofurkey; Luke’s, where Luke and Jess make it a foursome with Lorelai and Rory; Sookie’s, where

Jackson and his family have deep-fried the turkey, the lawn and just about everything else; and Emily and Richard’s, where,to Lorelai’s horror, Rory reveals that she has applied to Yale. Kirk gets a cat, with disastrous results; Dave asks Lane out, and then kisses her; Paris is afraid her difficulty getting into a shelter will impact her acceptance to Harvard; and Dean faces off with Jess and lets him know that it’s no more “”Mr. Nice Guy”” for Mr. Forester.

In the aftermath of the Dance Marathon, Kirk parades around Stars Hollow with the trophy until someone steals it, while Lorelai and Rory painfully inch their way towards Luke’s; after Lorelai tells Luke about Rory and Jess, he breaks up their first kiss and then lays down some ground rules with Jess about dating Rory; Lorelai and Rory reluctantly agree to accept Richard’s invitation to accompany him and Emily to his Whiffenpoof reunion at Yale, where he springs quite an unwelcome surprise on all three women; back from New Haven, Lorelai and Rory head for Luke’s, and Jess and Rory finally get to have those first kisses; Rory visits Dean to apologize and tell him that she misses his friendship; late at night, Lorelai and Rory each curl up with some bedtime reading — the Yale brochure.

Lorelai is determined to win the Stars Hollow Dance Marathon and wrest the trophy from four-time champion Kirk, but has trouble getting a partner until she finally convinces Rory to help her dance her way to victory. Dean sits on the sidelines to cheer his girl on, and is soon joined by Jess and Shane, who spend their time making out while Jess keeps his eye on Rory. Lorelai breaks her heel, and Dean takes her place while Luke plays shoe repairman. On the dance floor, Dean realizes that Rory is attracted to Jess and breaks up with her. Rory tearfully runs off, followed closely by Jess, and Kirk is declared the winner once again.

Lorelai chauffeurs Rory to Sherry’s baby shower in Boston and finds herself dragged into the festivities against her will; Miss Patty gets a new beau; Jess comes home with a car and Luke tries to find out where he got the money to pay for it; one of Stars Hollow’s more eccentric citizens requests a permit to mount a demonstration in the town square.

Lorelai attends Emily’s society auction where she meets a very handsome man but neglects to get his number, forcing her to ask her mother for it; after a disastrous first date, Lorelai turns down an invitation to another, not realizing that Emily and Richard have a lot invested in her dating this son of their friends; after Lorelai and Rory agree to water their new neighbor’s lawn while he’s out of town, Jess comes to Rory’s rescue when the lawn’s sprinker system malfunctions.

Lorelai’s stint in the Stars Hollow High School local business success speakers forum gets derailed by some controversial personal questions, much to the delight of Luke and the consternation of some PTA mothers; Luke and Jess argue about the women in and out of their lives (and their closets); Lane alleviates her frustration about the strictures of her household and the future of her band through a colorful, if temporary, display of independence; Rory runs into Shane one too many times and succumbs to a severe bout of snarkiness.

Rory’s application for Harvard arrives, plunging Rory, Lorelai and Emily into a frenzy; a Chilton seminar on college applications only adds to Rory’s anxiety and sends Paris into a tizzy; Taylor steamrolls Luke into opening a soda shop next to the diner; Lane places an ad in the paper for a band and finds a musical soulmate; Lorelai and Rory have dinner with a Harvard alumni and his family which may assure her chances of acceptance; Dean has a talk with Rory about their future after she goes to Harvard.

To Lorelai’s horror, Kirk asks her out on a date after being encouraged by Luke; Emily’s lunch with Lorelai at Luke’s ends badly; Christopher shows up uninvited at Friday night dinner and quarrels with both Lorelai and Rory before Emily asks him to leave; Rory runs into Jess and they each betray their hurt feelings — Rory about Shane and Jess about not hearing from Rory all summer; and Francie targets Paris and Rory for a world of trouble if Rory doesn’t stop Paris from running the student council like a dictatorship.

Amidst her sadness about Christopher, Lorelai has an intriguing dream about Luke; Rory returns from Washington to realize that she still may have feelings for Jess, but a chance encounter at the First Annual Stars Hollow End of Summer Madness Festival makes her realize that he may have moved on to someone else; relationship quarrels abound — Sookie and Jackson over decorating their house, Lorelai and Rory over Jess versus Dean, Emily and Richard over Lorelai and Christopher — but are on the path to resolution; and Rory once again guides Paris through the rocky shoals of preparing for a date.

Sookie’s wedding draws near, and both bride and groom are getting frazzled, to say nothing of Michel, who Lorelai has placed in charge of the preparations at the Inn.

Lorelai finally relents and goes into the diner, where she apologizes profusely to Luke, who is polite, but cool and somewhat remote.

Christopher comes to town for the removal of Rory’s cast and decides to stay for Sookie’s wedding. After he confesses that his relationship with Sherrie is over, he and Lorelai rekindle their relationship, much to the delight of both Rory and Emily. Their reunion is cut short when Sherrie telephones Christopher to tell him she’s pregnant, and Christopher returns to Boston, leaving Lorelai devastated.

Paris is running for student body president. She’s commissioned Madeline and Louise to poll the student body and is shocked to find that even though she’s overwhelmingly considered to be the most competent candidate, she’ll probably lose the election because she’s also the least liked candidate

Lorelai and Rory have breakfast at Sookie’s in an effort to avoid Luke’s, but Lorelai can’t avoid an awkward encounter with him at Doose’s Market, where he fails to pick up on her hints to patch things up; in an effort to help Lorelai through final exam stress, Rory gets her excited about attending her college graduation ceremony and secretly invites Richard and Emily, despite Lorelai’s assertion that they’d never agree to attend; after a late night phone call from Jess, Rory impulsively cuts school the next day and visits him in Manhattan; Christopher sends Lorelai a graduation gift basket filled with fun goodies and an expensive necklace; Lorelai is shocked to see Emily, Richard and the film crew accompanying them to her graduation, and must contend with an obnoxious classmate with an attitude about the rich; Rory is furious with herself when she takes the wrong bus home and misses her mother’s graduation; when Rory finally arrives home, Lorelai forgives her when she realizes that th

Richard opens a new office and hires a secretary with Lorelai’s help; Dean comes home; Lane falls in love with a drum set at Stars Hollow’s new music shop and discovers that becoming a rock drummer is her new dream in life; Rory is dismayed to discover that everyone blames Jess for the accident despite her protestations; to the consternation of all in Stars Hollow, Luke closes the diner and goes fishing.

Lorelai’s complaint about Taylor’s choice for “”Movie in the Square Night”” lands her the responsibility for picking the evening’s entertainment, but her enthusiasm for the task is quickly dampened when Taylor informs her that she must make a choice from a list of free movies which doesn’t include any masterpieces; against her better judgment, Lorelai agrees to Luke’s request that Rory tutor an about-to-flunk-out Jess; Rory and Jess decide to take a break from studying to get some ice cream, and with Jess behind the wheel, get into a car accident which leaves Rory with a broken wrist and a totaled car; a distraught Lorelai blames Luke for the accident, creating a serious rift in their relationship; Christopher arrives in the middle of the night ready to go after Jess, but he’s already left Stars Hollow to return home; Kirk’s short film premieres at Movie Night.

Rory asks Richard for help in creating and marketing a first-aid kit for Chilton’s annual Business Fair, which leads him to realize that he is unhappy in retirement and wants to start a second career; fresh from having underbid on Rory’s lunch basket and the loss of the bracelet he made for her, Dean goes overboard in trying to be close to Rory, afraid that she is losing interest in him, and finally becomes resigned to her affection for Jess; at first, Michel is ecstatic when his flamboyant mother Giselle visits, but after Lorelai causes problems for him when she reveals to Giselle that Michel has been holding back from his mother, Michel quickly is driven crazy by his mother’s incessant questioning.

Lorelai and Rory pitch in at the diner while Luke plans his Uncle Louie’s funeral; Taylor is unhinged when a farmer’s market opens in the town square and puts a damper on his business; Emily goes completely overboard in helping Sookie plan her wedding; Rory prods Jess into being more of a help; Luke is upset when family and friends cite Louie’s unpleasant personality as a reason for not attending his funeral, but is comforted when Stars Hollow comes through for both him and his uncle in the end.

When Emily and Lorelai go to a spa for a weekend of relaxation, Emily lets her hair down, kicks up her heels and ends up bonding with Lorelai in a way that only her daughter could inspire.

Thrilled that she has the house all to herself, Rory hopes to spend a quiet night at home doing laundry and eating Indian food. Her plans are foiled — first by Paris, then by Jess, and finally by Dean. In the process, she discovers that she has a surprising savior, a secret suitor, and a skeptical sweetheart.

Rory embarks upon a campaign to improve Lorelai’s relationship with Jess, and convinces her to let him clean out their gutters so he can make some extra money.

Luke can’t stand how cramped his living quarters have become now that his sister has sent all of Jess’s things to Stars Hollow, so he goes apartment hunting, first with Jess and then with Lorelai, who finally finds him a great place to live. When he finds out later that Taylor will be his new landlord, he explodes, tells Taylor to throw out his application, impulsively buys the building which houses his diner and the flower shop next door, and begins to take down the adjoining wall to expand his living space.

When Dean notices that Rory isn’t wearing the bracelet he made for her, she covers her shock at its loss and lies that she removed it because of a rash on her arm. She searches for it frantically all over Stars Hollow, not realizing that Jess picked it up after she dropped it on the bridge two weeks earlier when they shared

Christopher comes to town on a business trip with his girlfriend Sherrie in tow. Since Sherrie and Christopher’s relationship is getting serious, Sherrie wants to begin bonding with Rory — on Friday night. Without consulting Emily, Lorelai excuses Rory from The Gilmore Friday Night Dinner, and takes Christopher with her instead. When Emily finds out about Sherrie over cocktails, she has a meltdown and rushes off to the kitchen. Lorelai follows her there and finds out that Emily has always envisioned that Lorelai and Christopher would end up together. Now that she sees that this isn’t going to happen, Emily blames Lorelai for always keeping him, and everyone else, at arms length. After mulling over her mother’s words, the next morning Lorelai tells Christopher that she’s always thought that they would get back together, too, and that’s why she’s never had a relationship that lasted, including the one with Max. Christopher gets very angry, refusing to accept the responsibility for the w

The annual Stars Hollow charity picnic basket lunch auction sparks controversies among couples throughout town; Jess outbids Dean for Rory’s basket, causing Dean and Rory to quarrel when Rory abides by tradition and shares the lunch with Jess; Jackson refuses to bid on Sookie’s basket after she leads him to believe that she doesn’t want to move in together; Luke comes to Lorelai’s rescue, bids on her basket, and feeds them both at the diner after Miss Patty sets Lorelai up with a trio of unsuitable bidders; Henry tires of the end runs around Mrs. Kim, and calls it quits with Lane; Rory and Jess hit it off at lunch and Jess leaves with a secret souvenir — the bracelet that Dean gave Rory, which he picks it up and holds on to after Rory drops it; Sookie and Jackson work things out so well that he proposes and she accepts; Lorelai and Rory quarrel when Rory finds out that her mother lent a sympathetic ear to Dean’s concerns about Jess; after Emily agrees with her daughter’s distrust of J

Richard visits Stars Hollow, and drives Lorelai and Rory crazy by passing judgment on every aspect of their lives.

Lorelai and Rory have a major falling out after Rory goes against her mother’s wishes and asks her grandparents to lend Lorelai the money she needs to repair termite damage to their house; Lane’s desire to become a cheerleader causes a strain in her relationship with Rory; after an exhaustive and unproductive attempt to raise the funds she needs based on her own credit rating, Lorelai is forced to ask Emily to cosign a loan; Rory drives Paris crazy when she refuses to reveal her PSAT scores.

A blizzard prevents a group from attending the historical dinner that Sookie has painstakingly prepared at their request, so she and Lorelai decide to invite all their friends in Stars Hollow to enjoy the feast at the Inn. At Rory’s urging, Lorelai also invites Richard and Emily, in an attempt to boost Richard’s spirits. During dinner, Emily is hurt and angered when Richard reveals that he has quit his job without consulting her. Jess tries to get between Rory and Dean when Dean is distracted by his little sister.

Lorelai receives a late wedding present without a card attached, and insists that it be returned. Sookie sees to what great lengths Lorelai is going to find out who sent it, and tells Lorelai to move forward in life to get some closure on her relationship with Max. Lorelai takes her advice and accepts a dinner date with Paul, one of the other students in her business class. The date goes well, but they decide to remain friends because they don’t have very much in common. When Paul appears at Luke’s the following Saturday with his parents in tow, Lorelai gets ribbed by everyone in town because he’s so young. Luke is uncharacteristically quiet, which Lorelai can’t figure out until Sookie explains that he’s had a crush on Lorelai forever. Lorelai goes to him to let him know that he’ll always be a very important part of her life, and Luke brightens up again.

Rory, Paris, Madeline and Louise are assigned to present the death scene from “”Romeo and Juliet”” as part of ther class participation

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

Headmaster Charleston decrees that both Gilmore girls need to improve their socialization skills at Chilton if they want him to write a glowing recommendation for Rory’s Harvard application.

Rory’s first attempt to socialize leads her to ask a group of girls at lunch if she could join them. They agree and hit it off famously. After lunch, an insanely jealous Paris accosts Rory and tells her the the group that she innocently stumbled into is “”The Puffs””, Chilton’s famed secret sorority. Paris would do anything to join, and she begs Rory not to bad-mouth her to the group. At the next opportunity, Rory talks Paris up to the group and they are both accepted as pledges. The Puffs “”kidnap”” Rory, Paris and the other pledges very early one morning under the guise of taking them to breakfast, but instead take them to Headmaster Charleston’s office to be initiated into the group. In the middle of the ceremony, they are discovered by Charleston and the security guards. He calls their parents an

Richard, who has become increasingly irritable and contentious with Emily, begins to put in more hours in the office than ever. Without telling Emily, he cancels several important social engagements due to the pressures of work, which leaves her both upset and concerned about her husband. At the urging of her friends, she 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.

Dean protests loudly about the formal attire he is forced to wear and the fox-trot lessons he is forced to take from Miss Patty, so Rory promises him a lifetime of watching Battle Bots at his side if he’ll be a good sport and go along with the occasion.

Lorelai asks Christopher to escort their daughter on the night of the big event, and he surprises her by agreeing to come willingly. Lorelai is in for even more of a shock when he arrives on time, dr

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

To escape everyone’s reaction to the news of the broken engagement, Lorelai and Rory hit the road, and stumble upon the bed and breakfast from hell before eventually arriving at Harvard, where Rory gets a taste of college life and Lorelai muses over what might have been; Lane comes home loaded with bootlegs from Seoul; Lorelai breaks into tears when she sees the chuppah that Luke made for her; Luke commiserates with Lorelai even though he’s secretly overjoyed to hear that the wedding’s off; Lorelai decides to get serious about making her dream of opening an inn a reality.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Rachel finds an abandoned inn that Lorelai and Sookie fall in love with; Lorelai and Rachel spend the afternoon getting to know each other and Rachel asks Lorelai to put in a good word for her with Luke; as Rory takes Emily on a tour of Stars Hollow, Emily hits it off with Mrs. Kim and Michel, but becomes distraught when she sees Lorelai and Rory’s first home; at Sookie’s urging, Lorelai gives Jackson’s cousin Rune a job at the Inn.

Emily becomes unhinged at the prospect of a visit from Richard’s mother Trix; Paris is outraged when she discovers that Tristan asked her for a date at Rory’s urging; fearing that she’ll never see Lorelai again, Emily opposes Trix’s offer to set up a trust fund for Rory.

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.

Luke’s ex-girlfriend Rachel arrives in Stars Hollow unexpectedly, and immediately picks up on the attraction between Luke and Lorelai, which they deny. Rachel decides to stay for awhile, which leaves Luke and Lorelai with mixed feelings. Lorelai and Rory are amazed when Emily agrees to excuse Rory from Friday night dinner so that Rory and Dean can celebrate their three month anniversary. When Lorelai arrives for dinner, she discovers the source of Emily’s largesse — her mother has invited another guest — a man with whom she secretly hopes to fix Lorelai up. After a painful dinner with one of the world’s most boring men, Lorelai attempts to escape through the window of her old bedroom, but is caught in the act by Richard. When he is forced to admit that even he is bored by the man, he uncharacteristically covers for her and lets her make her getaway. Back in Stars Hollow, Dean treats Rory to a wonderfully romantic dinner, and then gives her a present — a car that he’s restoring for h

Wanting to play a greater role in Rory’s life, Christopher settles in for his visit and lets Rory give him the grand tour of Stars Hollow. When his parents arrive in Hartford for a visit, Emily invites everyone to Friday night dinner, which turns out to be an unqualified disaster after Richard nearly comes to blows with Christopher’s father over critical comments about Lorelai. In the aftermath of the ruined dinner party, Richard retreats to his study to calm down, Emily makes a plate for Rory in the kitchen and reassures her how much she is loved and regarded, and Christopher finds Lorelai on the balcony of her old bedroom and comforts her by repeating a little romantic history. The next morning, Lorelai awakens with a start, horrified that she forgot to help Luke paint the diner after dinner on Friday night. Grabbing a jacket, she races to the diner still clad in her pajamas, and begs Luke’s forgiveness. He shrugs it off at first, but appears somewhat wounded when he realizes that L