Thespian Synclaire gets her first big break on the improv stage--playing the part of a man.
Chandler and Ross's college friend Gandalf is planning to come to town. Gandalf is "the party wizard." Ross and Chandler are very excited until Gandalf cancels. However, they decide to make their own party with Joey's help. Joanna squashes Rachel's chance at a promotion. And when Monica fills in for a friend as food critic for a small newspaper, she must decide between a steady job as head chef of a restaurant she panned or keeping her catering business with her friend Phoebe.
Jerry's girlfriend is naked too often; Elaine's lifestyle offends a co-worker; Kramer seeks to shorten his showers; George has a disagreement with a new AA member.
Jeanie believes she's been fired because she has HIV and fights her dismissal.
Exploding cars on the freeway lead the team to a sinister inventor bent on sabotaging the automotive industry.
A motorcycle stunt driver has a fatal accident while filming an action video. Steve investigates.
The girls are given a credit card for emergencies but when a real crisis develops, Tia learns that Tamera let her friends max out the card at the mall.
When one of Matt's decisions costs the company big bucks, all of his decisions tends to disaster. Meanwhile, Delaney tries to pick up a girl at work.
Fran goes to Maggie's school to have a word with her Philosophy teacher and ends up developing a crush on him. After having to ask Maggie for her approval, Fran starts dating the gorgeous Jewish bachelor, which, of course, upsets Mr. Sheffield (who won't do anything regarding his true feelings towards Fran). Fran lies about her age to Professor Steve, and later pays the price when his astrologist tells him he should be with a woman in her mid-thirties – C.C.!
Dr. Monahan makes inappropriate advances toward Kelly. When she confronts him, he claims that he has done nothing wrong and accuses her of immaturity. Brandon lies about his whereabouts to Kelly and spends the day with Emma. They kiss after he drives her home. After discovering Brandon's relationship with Kelly, Emma tries to get to him by writing columns about the situation. David begins working at a car wash and befriends a gay teenage co-worker. He tries to convince the boy's parents to take him back, as he is sleeping at the car wash. David and Valerie proceed with their plan to make their exes jealous. Donna becomes upset and throws David out of the apartment, forcing him to move into Valerie's bedroom. Steve performs at the After Dark's comedy showcase. He initially bombs, but quickly recovers. He confesses to Carly that he stole all of the well-received material from Richard Belzer, and shares his history of stupid behavior.
Shawn's former boss Ted is released from a mental institution and plots revenge against Shawn for causing him to lose his job at an ad agency.
Guts, sent by Griffith, assassinates Yurius and his son Adonis. Griffith gets closer to Charlotte. The Hawks depart for yet another mission.
TJ's skill in chess gives him the chance to play against a computer, Socrates, that's supposed to be unbeatable in chess. Marcus plans to win big on money bets.
Dharma's parents arrive for their weekly yoga class only to find Dharma in tears because all her other students have deserted her for the popular self-defense class across the hall. Greg's efforts to cheer her up only get them evicted from Kitty's operatic fund raising evening. Clearing out her locker, Dharma curiously wanders into the self-defense class that turns out to be run by a wacky woman named Spyder, who is promoting herself with alarmist flyers about a massive increase in crime in the neighborhood. When Dharma protests that this is a lie, Spyder intimidates her physically, then invades a depressed Dharma's nightmare about breaking her non-violent principles and retaliating. When Dharma does attempt to remonstrate with Spyder, both she and Greg get their butts kicked.
The Mayor's free-thinking daughter, Meg, with whom he has a somewhat strained relationship, puts the ""bare"" in bareback when she disrupts a rally with hansom-carriage drivers in Central Park to draw attention to her animal rights stance--and not coincidentally, herself. Meantime, the gang tries to reunite a needy Paul with ex-girlfriend Claudia, but he's smitten with his new pen-pal.
A message overheard on an answering machine leads Briscoe and Curtis to a confessed murderer and the home of wealthy Carl Anderton, whose stubborn non-cooperation with the district attorney threatens to create a serious miscarriage of justice.
Sarah and Bailey host a Christmas party, while Charlie decides to go on a long distances trip with Kirsten. Will realizes that he and Bailey are living in totally different worlds. Julia pains a nice picture inspired by Justin.