Rory asks Dean to the Chilton formal despite reluctance to do so. While making Rory's dress, Lorelai throws her back out and Emily, noticing the pain she's in, insists that she stay with Lorelai while Rory's at the formal. At the dance, Dean has an encounter with Tristan that leads to a fist-fight between the two. After the dance, Rory and Dean fall asleep together while reading as Miss Patty's. The next morning, Lorelai wakes up to the angry voice of Emily and finds that Rory has not returned home.