Phoebe finds out some shocking news about her birth mother; Ross chooses Rachel over Bonnie, but has to read an 18-page letter about her feelings before she'll agree to get back together with him. He doesn't quite make it all the way through the letter before telling Rachel that he agrees with everything in it. The rain finally lets up and the friends go to the beach where Monica is stung by a jellyfish, and has to decide which is worse: the pain from the sting, or the remedy that Joey suggests.

Something horrible happens to Joey and Chandler's apartment, and Phoebe finds a cat she believes to be her mother.

Chandler, still unable to break up with Joanna, ends up in a very awkward position in her office, and at the mercy of Rachel to get him out. Chandler and Rachel are able to strike a deal that's beneficial to both of them. Joey gets caught in the clutches of a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman, but can only afford one volume.

The superintendent makes Rachel cry because he is upset about them clogging the trash shoot. Chandler is a member at the gym even though he doesn't go but he can't quit because the dreamy spandex girl always changes his mind. The superintendent wants to throw out Monica and Rachel because Monica has been illegally subletting the apartment. Phoebe has a crush on her client Rick but she would get fired for fooling around with him. Ross goes to the gym with Chandler to give him courage to quit. But when Maria appears Ross can't say no to a membership. Joey goes to convince the superintendent not to kick our Monica and Rachel. In turn for that favour Joey will help the superintendent practice dancing for the superintendents' ball. They have the great idea to close their accounts at the bank so the gym can't charge them. Joey begins to enjoy the ballroom dancing. Phoebe and Rick make out. Phoebe finds out that Rick is married and also gets fired because her boss caught them kissing.

Ross is trying to make Rachel jealous by going out with a girl called Amanda. Phoebe has a cold and has a new and very sexy bluesy voice. Chandler hits on Joey's new girlfriend Kathy he hadn't met before and they find out they have a lot on common. Rachel tries to make Ross jealous by going out with a weird guy called Josh. Phoebe loses her great voice and tries to catch a cold again. Chandler is in love with Kathy. Ross's date with Amanda because Amanda goes out with another guy and thought Ross was coming over to babysit her son. Joey thinks Chandler doesn't like Kathy and asks him to make an effort to be nice to her. Monica talks some sense into Ross and Rachel and they stop pretending as if they found love in other relationships.

Chandler has gone to extreme trouble to get Kathy the ideal birthday gift, a special edition of her favorite book; Ross points out he can't outshine her boyfriend Joey -who didn't even plan to give her anything- totally so he must get an even cooler gift. Phoebe tells Monica not to turn down major funeral catering for lack of equipment and advances the money, but wants it straight back before there's nearly enough profit; so they become active business partners- which proves good, as their first client, a widow, would never pay without Phoebe's street persistence. Ross' foxy girlfriend Cheryls flat turns out to be sloppier then a bachelor frat room, and yet says his place has a weird smell and is relieved when the creeping creature he kills in disgust is not her hamster but 'just a rat'. Since Joey can't find anything better then a pen annex clock, Chandler lets him give the Velvteen Rabbit; fortunately Kathy guesses the truth.

Chandler is still in love with Joey's girlfriend; he thinks that he's found a way out of the situation when he finds Joey making a date with another girl, but is crushed to find out that Joey intends to date both girls. Things get worse when Chandler has to cover for Joey, who is late for his late date. Ross takes his keyboard out of storage and shares his sound with the friends. They tell him it's great, just to be nice, but Ross takes them seriously.

It's Thanksgiving, but Chandler doesn't have a lot to be thankful for. Joey is still angry that Chandler kissed Kathy, and it seems that nothing is able to bring them back together, until Chandler offers to do whatever it takes to mend their friendship. The friends choose names for Secret Santa, and everyone comes to the realization that Rachel is the worst person to buy for. Monica injures her eye whlie preparing Thanksgiving dinner and gets a shock when she goes to the eye-doctor.

Phoebe and Monica get a van for their catering business. Rachel applies for a job as assistant buyer. An old friend and party wizard wants to visit Ross and Chandler. They are excited like two small children and can hardly sit still but the friend cancels their reunion. Monica wrote her first review and the owner of the restaurant comes to complain about it. Joanna doesn't want to lose a good assistant as Rachel and makes Rachel look bad at the interview for the new job. Rachel wants to quit but Joanna offers her the position of assistant buyer in Joanna's department. Ross and Chandler are depressed because they wanted to party with their friend so Joey offers to take them to party. Monica shows the owner of the bad restaurant how to make a sauce and he wants her as head chef. Joey, Chandler and Ross are out partying but realize they have become adults and are too tired after a few clubs and didn't like it much. Phoebe is really upset because Monica will leave their business buts lets Monica take the job because that's all Monica ever dreamed of. Joanna is hit by a cab and dies. Rachel probably won't get promoted because no one else knew of their agreement. Monica starts at the restaurant and the staff hate her because their relation and ex head chef Emilio got fired

Ross meets an amazing girl from Poughkeepsie on the train. Rachel hates to be alone around the festive season. She doesn't necessarily need a real relationship but would love to have a fling. Monica is still being picked at at the restaurant. Chandler promised Rachel to fix her up with someone from work and the guys at work all suck to Chandler because they want to go out with Rachel. Monica hires Joey only to fire him again to show the others at the restaurant who the boss is. Ross can't decide between the girl from Poughkeepsie and another girl who isn't as fun but lives in the city. Rachel goes out with a guy named Patrick and really liked him but is furious when she finds out that Chandler told everyone she was looking for a fling. Joey refuses to be fired because he makes so much money with the tips he gets. Ross decides to break up with both women because he is so exhausted from seeing the one in Poughkeepsie and doesn't really like the other one. Patrick breaks up with Rachel because Chandler told him Rachel was thinking about getting serious with Patrick. Joey lets himself be fired and the people at the restaurant finally respect Monica.

Phoebe's brother Frank and Alice got married. They were trying to get pregnant but it didn't work out. They ask Phoebe if she could bear their baby. Joey gets a job as a tour guide at Ross' museum. The friends want Phoebe to think it through before she makes the decisions about having Frank's and Alice's child. Things are going really well for Kathy and Chandler but they haven't had sex because Chandler is afraid he won't be able to fill Joey's shoes. Joey is a terrible tour guide. Phoebe goes to see her mother to ask whether she should have the baby or not. Her mother tells her not to do it because she knows how hard it is to give up a baby. Joey realizes that he can't be friends with Ross at work because tour guides and scientists don't mix. Chandler sleeps with Kathy but it wasn't great and he asks Rachel and Monica for advice on good sex. Ross proves his friendship to Joey by having lunch with him at work. Ross and Joey set a good example and all the others at work stop dividing the group between tour guides and scientists. Phoebe decides to have the baby because it will so good to make Alica and Frank happy

Phoebe has accepted to host in her uterus the artificially inseminated child(ren) of her brother Frank and his older wife Alice Knight Buffay; the anxious wait for a pregnancy is rewarded. Meanwhile a display by Chandler and Joey how well they know Monica and Rachel by guessing the items in their shopping bag leads to a large-scale bet on a quiz, for which Ross makes the questions. It goes close, but the team captains pride and sense of competition brings Monica to accept Chandlers dare to up the stakes: either the boys' birds are ousted, or the girls must exchange their master apartment for the boys measly rooms- Rachels error in the last round enables a triumphant entry of the victors.

After her former department at Bloomingdales was abolished, Rachel gets a new job: personal shopper for big spending clients; one of them, Joshua Bergen, really appeals to her, so she lures him back after hours with his 'lost' wallet, but even Joeys misunderstood suggestion to offer him Knicx tickets doesn't quite work out. Chandler is terribly jealous when he thinks his girlfriend Kathy gets too intimate with her thespian counterpart, and she takes it badly enough to break up with him- once he's no longer drunk, he's a wreck and realizes he didn't really know. Monica really misses being 'the hostess' now the boys have the big apartment, so she decides to make their tiny place 'even better'; she does a great job in two obsessive days non-stop, but is so tired she dozes off on the couch.

After a three-day fishing trip with his dad, Joey is in a jam when he doesn't have time to take a shower before going to the set of Charlton Heston's new movie. Rachel, continuing to fawn over clothing shopper Joshua, sets Ross up with her boss's niece when she is unable to take her to the opera. Ross ends up spending a weekend in Vermont with the niece, Emily. And while Chandler is despondent after his breakup with Kathy, the girls take him to a strip club.

Ross takes on a rugby challenge from some old friends of Emily's from England in order to impress Emily. Meanwhile, Chandler runs into Janice and tries to avoid restarting his relationship with her.

Phoebe, pregnant, has cravings for meat; Joey agrees to be a temporary vegetarian so she can eat meat without causing more animals to die. Rachel creates a fake party for Emily, which is really an excuse to spend time with Joshua outside of work; she makes a fool of herself trying to make him like her... she even puts on her old high-school cheerleader uniform. Ross is bummed that Emily will soon be returning home to England; Rachel convinces him that his relationship with Emily doesn't have to end.

Joey and Chandler unexpectedly receive an "adult" movie channel. Monica urges Ross to express his true feelings to Emily before she leaves the country, but things don't go as well as expected--it turns out there's another man. Ross goes to London to prove his love for Emily, but she returns to the states to tell him she's chosen him. Phoebe finds out she's carrying triplets; Frank, Jr. considers dropping out of refrigerator college to get a job; Phoebe tries to come up with ways to make money so he won't have to give up his "dream."

Phoebe is asked to name one of the three babies she's carrying; this sparks some rivalry between Joey and Chandler, who each want the baby named after them. Susan is shooting a commercial in London so Emily offers to show her around; Ross worries that they might be having too much of a good time together... like when Carol started spending time with Susan. Rachel plans a big date with a special dinner, new lingerie and a nice dress; while eating dinner at her place, the chick and the duck upset Joshua, who has a phobia of farm birds; since his apartment is being remodeled and his parents are out of town, they go to his parents' house; unexpectedly, his parents return home while Rachel is wearing only a negligee; she tells them it's actually a new dress and ends up having to wear it while they all go out to dinner.

The singing man, the bird smell, and the lack of space drive Rachel and Monica to new attempts to get their old apartment back; when they fail to bribe Chandler and Joey with season Knicks tickets, they try making another bet... and lose again, so they have neither the tickets nor the apartment. However, while Joey and Chandler are at a game, Rachel and Monica switch apartments anyway. Chandler objects but Monica and Rachel offer to kiss each other for a full minute if they can keep the apartment. Ross gets an ear-ring. Phoebe tries to knit. Ross hates the fact that Emily has to be gone so much, so he considers asking her to move in with him... but ends up asking her to marry him; she says yes. The gang is shocked to hear the news... especially Rachel.

Joey's snoring forces Chandler to insist he go to a sleep clinic; while accompanying Joey at the clinic, Chandler meets (and begins dating) Marjorie, who talks in her sleep. Ross tries to talk with Rachel about her feelings, but she just pretends she's fine. However, while feeling kind of desperate she tries to move way too fast with Joshua and ends up scaring him off. Monica picks up Emily's wedding dress for her, and finds she just can't resist wearing it... a lot. Phoebe and Rachel catch the spirit as well, and soon they're all wearing white. Ross and Emily set a wedding date just one month away. Rachel talks with Monica and Phoebe about her unresolved feelings for Ross.

Flashbacks of Ross and Rachel's relationship punctuate this episode as Ross decides to send Rachel a wedding invitation and Rachel decides she won't be going. Joey and Chandler, feeling like they don't have much going on in their lives compared to their friends, try to make some big plans... like climbing Mount Everest or at least watching some videos.

Phoebe suffers from a small bladder, mood swings, kicking babies, false labor, and other pregnancy woes. Ross has to choose whether Joey or Chandler will be his best man; he chooses Joey, which seems okay until after the bachelor party when the wedding ring is missing. Believing the stripper (whom Joey slept with) took it, they mistakenly confront her; however, it turns out it was taken by a different bird. Monica and Rachel plan a baby shower for Phoebe, but decide not to give her baby-stuff because she won't be keeping the babies; unfortunately, this plan doesn't go over very well.

Ross, Monica, Joey, and Chandler leave for London; Phoebe's pregancy prohibits travel and Rachel stays to take care of her... and to avoid the emotional strain of watching Ross get married. Joey and Chandler go sight-seeing, but Joey's tourist behavior embarrasses Chandler and they split up for the day; Chandler has a lousy time, but Joey has a great day... including a visit with the Duchess of York. Emily stresses about the wedding arrangements, and everything is on the verge of collapsing when the demolition work starts on the building where they were to wed. Monica suggests they postpone the wedding (an idea which leads to more problems). Rachel realizes she's still in love with Ross, and tries to console herself by shopping; Phoebe also tries to help her get over Ross. When all this fails, Rachel decides to leave right away for London to tell Ross how she feels.

Phoebe fights phone friction while trying to warn Joey and Chandler that Rachel is on her way to ruin the wedding. Joey gets homesick... until he finds a cute bridesmaid (Felicity) who wants to know him better. The Gellers meet the Walthams; Jack Geller has agreed to pay for half of the wedding... until he finds out Mr. Waltham is counting his house remodeling as a wedding expense. Rachel tries and tries again to get on a flight to London; she gets underway but annoys the other passengers. Chandler and Monica have a difficult time at the rehearsal dinner; they console each other, and end up sleeping together. The next day, Joey, Chandler, and Monica watch for Rachel before the wedding; she slips in while Joey makes out with Felicity, but decides not to tell Ross how she feels. During the wedding ceremony, Ross accidentally speaks Rachel's name instead of Emily's, halting the proceedings.