A middleweight boxing champ dies in the ring after taking a brutal beating from his nemesis, but Grissom finds evidence that points to murder. Outside, in a nearby parking lot, Catherine works a crime scene where a Los Angeles gang member was gunned down, apparently by a rival gang. Also, Nick investigates a jewelry-store robbery.
The boys are on a mission: return "The Lord of the Rings" to the Two Towers Video Store in Conifer. But this is no ordinary copy. Butters, the evil sixth graders, and the boys' parents all try to steal the ring, er tape, from the boys. Will they succeed?
Archer and Reed return to a pre-warp society, that is on the verge of war, to recover a lost communicator from an undercover survey mission.
Dawson comes through with No Doubt concert tickets, but he and Natasha's first public date ends in a brush with the law. Joey and Eddie have to sneak into the concert, while Pacey come to blows with CJ at the concert when it is revealed that he slept with Audrey.
The families converge for the wedding, and Carol begins to have second thoughts after talking to her father about her parents' courtship; Warren enlists the help of Carol's sister Stella in writing a song for the bride, and the two hit it off better than Warren could have dreamed, leading him to seek out Eli for advice about women; Ed decides not to attend the wedding, but Carol begs him to reconsider; Jennifer encourages Ed to break up the wedding and he decides to go for it and ride up to the church on a white steed, but the horse he ends up with has other ideas; Dennis makes a painful decision to tell the truth at a crucial moment.
Jordan's homework of caring for a snake has Bryanna clamoring for her own pet. Wildlife expert Jules Sylvester counsels Bernie.
At the request of Det. Reese, Helena goes undercover to help bring down a gang of thieves terrorizing New Gotham and quickly discovers that the gang is part of a larger infrastructure. Helena goes after the big boss until her cover is blown, putting her in grave danger. Meanwhile, Barbara has to deal with her fear of intimacy when her relationship with Wade takes a serious turn.
Angie doesn't mind when George offers their backyard for a friend's wedding reception. But his refusal to dance there is another story.
After Paul convinces Bridget to tell Kyle the truth about her date with another boy, Kyle breaks up with her. Meanwhile, Kerry's first date turns out to be a dream, but she is devastated when the boy doesn't call her back.
Gina Gershon guest stars as Rhonda, the beautiful but foul-mouthed sister of Vicki who immediately falls for Elliott. But when Elliott feigns interest in Rhonda only to ultimately make himself seem more interesting to Vicki, he finds himself in an awkward situation and only Finch can save him. Meanwhile, Jack annoys the entire office when he sets up closed-circuit cameras everywhere in an attempt to keep his eye on everyone while is home recovering from foot surgery.
In a romantic moment, Donna presents Eric with a ring, much like the promise ring that he gave her, and caused their break up. For Donna, the ring symbolizes their enduring love and committment; for Eric, it symbolizes ugliness. To protect Donna's feelings, he decides not to say anything, but the secret gains a life of its own. Kitty is determined not to let menopause affect her life, but has a hard time living up to her committment.
Buffy talks through her troubles with an old high school classmate who has recently become a vampire. Cassie, the late student Buffy tried to help, appears to Willow with a posthumous message from Tara. Dawn experiences a terrifying haunting. And Andrew and Jonathan return to Sunnydale High on a mission.
Connie struggles to settle with the baby. A woman is found dead in a vacant lot. Another is found dead in the laundry room of her building. The Lieutenant dresses up for a lunch.
Niles becomes concerned about a lingering toothache after his dentist assures him that there is nothing wrong with the tooth. He tells Roz that there is a chance that he may be suffering from referred pain; and that the pain could actually be a sign of a heart condition.
Lorelai forces Rory to be her partner at the Stars Hollow dance marathon, where Rory can't stop arguing with a boy – and another definitely notices.
Ryan (from "Stray") returns and Clark has to save him from Dr. Garner of the Summerholt Research Facility. Meanwhile, Aunt Nell leaves Smallville, and Lex wants to expand the plant but runs afoul of the mayor.
Nick takes on the case of two children after their brother dies from their father's neglect.
Jack tries to undermine Eddie's mission to bomb CTU while George investigates intel leading him to the site of the nuclear bomb's construction and Kim tries to make contact with her father by heading for CTU headquarters.