The gang explore uncharted waters when the girls, Jen, Joey, Andie and Abby spend a day with Gail doing a TV report on teenage behavior amid the tensions between all of them over Jen and Joey's continuing feud and Abby's continuing insensitivity. Meanwhile, Dawson and Pacey explore their own uncharted waters when they go on a father-son fishing trip with Mitch and Pacey's grumpy and critical father, Sheriff John Witter, as well as Jack whom Pacey invites to tag along which brings out more tension between Dawson and Jack.

Dawson's suspicions about Mike Potter become confirmed when he sees him selling drugs again and is torn on whether or not to tell Joey or leave things as they are. But Pacey's grumpy and misanthropic father, Sheriff Witter, is already suspicious and has the Ice House staked out hoping to catch Mike Potter in the act in which the restaurant is set afire by Mr. Potter's competitors. Meanwhile, Gail tells Mitch that she has decided to take the job offer in Philadelphia and wants to leave as soon as possible with Dawson. Pacey becomes more depressed as his school grades start decreasing now that Andie is gone from his life and his domineering father verbally bullies him. Also, Jen becomes more and more depressed over Abby's death in which Jack wonders if she is suicidal. Eventually, Grams asks Jen to come back to live with her and Jack is welcome to live with them too.

Joey decides to help throw a surprise 18th birthday party for Pacey at his parents house, not knowing about Pacey's 'birthday curse'. The party goes haywire from the start as Joey finally sees why Pacey hates his dysfunctional and annoying family so much; his domineering, drunkard father; his overbearing, delusional mother; and his divorced sister Kerry and her three children, make everyone feel uncomfortable, and Doug later joins in and gets them to embarrass Pacey with stories from his past. Meanwhile, Dawson becomes upset when he feels that Gretchen doesn't want anyone to know about their growing romantic relationship and postpones their first real date to go to the party. Also, Jen is paired with Tobey for a community service project that evening of being the town's designated driver for drunken college kids.

Professor Heston orders Joey to baby-sit for Harley to make sure she does her homework. But Joey ends up serving as relationship counselor when she finds Harley's boyfriend, Patrick, hiding in the house and he starts to drool over Joey. Meanwhile, Dawson pays a visit to his past when he's asked to speak on Mr. Gold's class at Capeside High about how it is to be working in L.A. Dawson has a student, named George, show him his movie in which he realizes that he's moved on from the teenager he once was. Pacey also returns to Capeside when his father is admitted to the hospital after suffering a heart attack where Pacey has an argument with Doug about the way Pacey's been treating the family by shutting them out, and resents the new lifestyle Pacey has.