It's Labor Day weekend and most of the men are sending their wives away for a few days. Don Draper's wife Betty is dreading the thought, as her father and his new girlfriend, whom she detests, will be staying with them. With the election approaching, the team at Sterling Cooper is gloomy since the Nixon campaign has not been following their advice. Roger Sterling was hoping to spend Friday night with Joan Holloway but having just seen the movie Piso de soltero (1960), she is feeling a bit used. She plans a night on the town with her old college friend who has some surprising information for her. Don and Roger invite twin sisters from a casting call to join them for a drink but things go badly for Roger who suffers a serious heart attack. After the incident Don ends up spending the night with Rachel Menken where he reveals a lot of his inner self.

Election night arrives and the staff of Sterling Cooper has a party while watching the returns. The election is close and it's obviously going to be a long night. Now a senior partner in the firm, Don Draper must hire a new head of account services, a post that Pete Campbell yearns for. Aware of Draper's secret past, he tries to strong-arm him into giving him the job. With his secret out, Don panics and he asks Rachel Menken to run away with him. Regaining his composure, Don calls Pete's bluff leading to a confrontation with Bert Cooper.

Don is on the outside looking in on the forced indefinite paid leave from his job. While Ted heads back to New York for a few days, Don takes the opportunity to head to Los Angeles in part to meet with a California transformed Pete while he reunites with Megan, who is living full time there while pursuing what looks to be a promising acting career. Back in New York, Peggy avoids Ted at all cost while she learns to deal with the new "Don", Lou Avery, most specifically on the Accutron account for which she is getting consulting help from Freddie Rumsen. On top of that, she is also having to deal with being a landlady to who she believes are overly demanding tenants. Ken feeling overworked leads to Joan taking over his scheduled business meeting with Wayne Barnes, the new Head of Marketing for Butler Footwear. Barnes' news results in Joan taking what she hopes will be seen as decisive and preemptive action in overcoming a potential problem, action which she hopes demonstrates that she deserves to be more than just a glorified secretary. And Roger meets with Margaret on her request, the two who have been somewhat estranged over the last few months. Their individual new approaches to life may result in a friction-free reunion.

Don is oddly drawn to a diner waitress as he learns about the loss of an old acquaintance, Peggy and Joan are disrespected by a chauvinistic client, and Cosgrove is in for big changes after his biggest business connection retires.