Susan Bjurman

Emily requests that Rory partake in a debutante ball. To everyone's surprise, Rory agrees. After asking Rory's father, Christopher, to present Rory to society, Lorelai finds herself attracted to the new, more responsible man he has become.

Percival takes over the family business when his father dies, which means that he and Nellie will remain in New York permanently. Distraught by the news, Harriet and Nels decide that adopting a little girl would make them happy, but when they visit the orphanage, Harriet gravitates to the most unruly. Meanwhile, Adam struggles to make a living as a lawyer in Walnut Grove.

Rory begins to work her 300 hours of community service and finds that life on a road crew is not pretty. Lorelai and Luke try to decide whether they will fix up Lorelai's home or buy the Twickham house, which Luke has always admired. Luke's sister, Liz (recurring guest star KATHLEEN WILHOITE - "ER"), begs him to hire her husband, T.J. (recurring guest star MICHAEL DeLUISE - "NYPD Blue"), as a contractor. When Rory surprises Luke with a visit at the diner to find out how Lorelai is, he feels obligated to tell her that he and Lorelai are engaged. Afterwards, Luke confronts Lorelai about her estrangement from Rory. Feeling lonely, Lorelai adopts a dog at the Stars Hollow pet fair. Finally, during a chance meeting, Lorelai and Rory have an angry confrontation about their mutual hurt feelings.

Rory does a fabulous job organizing a big DAR bash for Emily. However, at the party, Richard confronts Logan's father, Mitchum Huntzberger (recurring guest star GREGG HENRY - "Eyes," "Payback"), about his opinion of Rory's journalistic talents, while Emily has an even uglier confrontation with Logan's mother, Shria (LEANN HUNLEY - "Dawson's Creek"), over the romance between Rory and Logan. Meanwhile, after a small kitchen fire at the Dragonfly Inn, Lorelai enlists Richard's help in settling the insurance claim. She also needles him about the fact that he has been unable to get Rory to return to Yale. Although he's annoyed with Lorelai, Richard admits that Rory is not doing what she should be doing.

As Rory's 21st birthday approaches, both Lorelai and Rory are saddened that their estrangement will keep them from spending the day the way they had always planned. Richard tries to convince Lorelai to help him concoct a plan to get Rory to return to Yale, but Lorelai insists that Rory has to make the decision herself. Meanwhile, Emily plans an elaborate birthday party. Later, Emily and Richard are shocked when they realize that Rory and Logan have been having sex. Former Secretary of State MADELEINE ALBRIGHT appears in a cameo role as herself.