The Enterprise crew is in the process of deploying the second in a series of subspace amplifiers that will allow better communications with home, when an unidentified ship drops out of warp. Captain Archer hails the vessel, but it ominously refuses to respond and just warps away. T'Pol dismisses the "silent treatment" by stating that not every species has motives that can be understood in human terms. So Archer turns his attention to a more pressing concern - doing something special for Lt. Malcolm Reed's upcoming birthday. Archer breaks in the new subspace amplifiers by calling Reed's parents on Earth in hopes of learning his favorite food. He's a bit surprised to learn during the awkward conversation that the lieutenant's own parents don't know what he likes to eat. So the captain gives a reluctant Ensign Hoshi Sato the "mission" of discovering this bit of information about Reed in time for his birthday.

Joey and Audrey go to a nightclub to celebrate both Joey's grades and fall break. There, Audrey tries to convince Joey to have some real fun. Charlie is also there and he hits on Joey, who turns him down for what he did to Jen. But Charlie doesn't give up so easily and dares Joey to do something wild. She accepts the dare and goes on the stage to sing with the band. Excited about it, she kisses Charlie. Meanwhile, Pacey sees himself hanging out with Audrey after he joins the ladies at the club to celebrate his new promotion. And Dawson and Jen go back to Capeside, where they have their first fight over what Dawson will do with his life. At the end he decides to move in to Grams's attic in Boston and move on with his life.

The aliens among us are eggplants and they are delicious... really. Learn to shop for and store different varieties of eggplant, evaluate bread crumbs, and celebrate the vegetable peeler.

Cheryl leaves Jim in charge of their kids and some other kids who were there to play with the girls during a Bears game. The next day, one of the kids mom calls Cheryl saying her daughter dame home repeating a swearing she heard from Jim. Cheryl apologizes for him and Jim is insulted that she always automatically takes the other person's side. Cheryl apologizes, and not too later Grace repeats the exact same word. Jim decides to teach her not to repeat it by making her say it non stop until she can't say it again. It works. 5 days later, at Ruby's ballet presentation, she slips, falls and says the word, unmasking Jim's guilt.

As the staff works endlessly on Bartlet's State of the Union address, Bartlet suddenly requests that a section promising to find a cancer cure within 10 years is added. Sam is interviewed for an article in Vanity Fair magazine by a reporter who has a close personal history with him -- they were once engaged. Meanwhile, Josh has a hard time getting Amy Gardner's attention after telling her that her current relationship with a Congressman is only due to political gain; and Joey Lucas studies the poll numbers prior to Bartlet's speech.

The father of a dying girl gets his revenge on an insurance executive who denied a certain leukemia treatment for his daughter. One problem arises when the father is technically on both sides of the law.

Tonight, actor Colin Hanks promotes his new movie Orange County.

It began with a ghastly tragedy. In 1985 the massive Colombian volcano Nevado del Ruiz erupted, melting a glacier and sending a vast landslide of mud down on the people asleep in the town of Armero below. Twenty thousand died. In the aftermath science was set a challenge: to make sure such a catastrophe never happened again, by finding a way of accurately predicting when a volcano will erupt. Now, at last, it seems that one scientist may have met that challenge.