As they finish watching a movie together, Dawson, Joey, Pacey, Andie, Jen and Jack, all hanging out on Dawson's bed, reflect on how far they've come together since the beginning of the school year. While Joey tries to keep the conversation from getting too sappy, Pacey says he can't help but see the similarities between them and the kids of Beverly Hills, 90210, a comment which quickly makes him the prime target of a rousing pillow fight.
The next day at school, Andie is sporting a new haircut. Pacey, who's not quite sure if he likes it or not, asks Andie out for a nice romantic evening nonetheless, but she says she's got to study, and - she says, shooting a glare at Jack - take care of their mother. Just a few yards away, Dawson and Jen are talking about their own evening plans, and Dawson reveals to Joey that he's made a reservation for them at a nice restaurant for their one-month anniversary. On her way to class, Andie pauses at her locker. A stranger smiles at her from across the hall, and she smiles back at him.
On the porch that night back at the Leery's, Jen talks with Gail about her grandmother. She feels she'll never get past the ideological differences she has with her grandmother, and feels sad about that. Gail suggests that they put the past behind them for a little while and have a girls' night out.
Practically everyone, it seems, has evening plans. Dawson's dad Mitch and his date Nicole, who is also Dawson's film teacher Miss Kennedy, are out on a date. Before entering a restaurant for dinner, the two pause for a kiss out front. Moments later, Dawson and Joey approach the same restaurant, and exchange a kiss as well. When they walk in they find that not only are Mitch and Nicole eating at the same restaurant, but that both Dawson and his dad both made reservations for Leery, party of two, which Mitch claimed by arriving first. Since the restaurant is packed, all four of them share a table. As if that weren't enough to spoil the intimacy of the evening for both couples, Jen and Gail walk through the door.
In Andie's session with her therapist, it is suggested that Andie is experiencing complicated grief, which may be related to Abby Morgan's death. Her therapist suggests that perhaps Andie may need to go back on medication, because what's going on inside may not be healing itself properly. Andie is visibly unsettled - she doesn't want to go back on medication. When she returns to her car, the stranger from the school hallway is sitting waiting for her. She cries in his arms, and tells him that no one listens like he does.
When she returns home, the stranger is gone, and she's hanging out with Pacey. When she goes downstairs, though, the stranger is there again, and she talks with him. Pacey comes downstairs and overhears Andie's part of the conversation. Pacey reveals himself and asks who she was talking to, and Andie says she wasn't talking to anyone. Pacey confronts her, saying he's sure he heard something. Andie denies it. He then asks her why she had an old photo album out - with photos of her hair like she has it now. Pacey comments that her moods have been unpredictable, and asks if this is something medical, or if the photos and the haircut have something to do with her behavior. Upset, she storms upstairs. Jack comes home, and asks Pacey what's going on. He tries to explain, and Jack says that last night, he heard Andie talking to herself. Andie comes down the stairs and says that that she's been talking to Tim, their brother who was killed - that she sees him, and that he's there for her.
Andie, now even more upset than before, locks herself in the bathroom, and sees Tim in there with her. Pacey and Jack try to coax her out, saying they want to help her. Tim tells her she has to choose. Pacey, from the other side of the door, hears her talk about having to choose, and agrees - he asks her to choose, and to choose him. In tears, she does, and finally comes out of the bathroom. Jack confides to Pacey that he thinks he should call his father, because he can afford to get Andie help - and that what Andie is going through is exactly like what happened to their mother.
Back at the restaurant, everybody's special evenings have been irrevocably intertwined. Though they agreed not to talk about the past, Jen asked Gail before they went out if she still had hope of Mitch coming back. Gail replied that she is still contemplating the job offer in Philadelphia, and waiting for a sign to help her figure out what to do. Seeing Mitch in the restaurant gets Jen scheming. Over at the Leery table for four, the close quarters lead to a heated argument between Dawson and Miss Kennedy about Dawson's filmmaking. She leaves to go to the bathroom, where she runs into Gail, and while she's gone, Dawson implores his father not to let Gail leave Capeside. Joey had gone over to speak with Jen, and the two devise a plan (involving creative wine-bottle deliveries) to bring Mitch and Gail together. The plan works, and the estranged couple end up on the dance floor. They talk, and while Mitch encourages Gail to stay in Capeside for Dawson's sake, it seems clear that he would like her to stay for his sake as well. When he returns to the table, though, Miss Kennedy is waiting for him there.
As Jen and Gail walk and talk afterward, Gail tells Jen that she got her sign when she was holding Mitch on the dance floor. She's going to stay - because she'll never let Mitch go. Just as she says this, they see Mitch and Nicole at the end of the dock, sharing a tender moment. Gail quickly turns and runs away.
Dawson and Joey, sharing their own tender moment on the boat after the date, talk about their anniversary, and about sex. Joey asks Dawson to be honest, and tell her if he's been thinking about "closing the deal." Dawson admits that he has, and Joey admits that she has too. But she also says she's not ready, and smilingly reminds Dawson that they're still young. The next morning when Andie wakes up, Pacey is there to comfort her. She feels better, but she's worried about what's going to happen to her. Pacey lets her know she's not going to lose him. Andie tells Pacey she loves him, and he in turn tells her that he loves her.