- Ross is forced to reveal the reason why Jack and Judy don't like Chandler. Rachel tries to make dessert for the gang. Joey and Ross try to get out of Thanksgiving when they are invited to hang out with Janine and her dancer friends.
- The Geller parents are coming over for Thanksgiving but they don't know that Chandler moved in with Monica nor that they are dating because they don't like Chandler. Chandler's plan is to be very charming and make them like him then tell them that he is dating Monica. Rachel made a trifle for dessert but put two recipes together so it has beef and peas in it. Chandler is sucking up to the Gellars but Ross tells him that they don't like him because Ross was caught smoking pot in college and he blamed it on Chandler. Ross has to clear it all up but he first organizes that everybody pretends to like Rachel's dessert. Ross finally tells his parents that it wasn't Chandler. Everybody takes this opportunity to yell out stuff about each other they have wanted to say. The Gellars take a liking to Chandler and thank him for standing by Ross during his "drug problems" and for "taking on Monica as well".—Anonymous
- Monica, preparing the Friends' Thanksgiving Day dinner, receives a phone call from her parents Jack (Elliott Gould) & Judy (Christina Pickles), who are planning to join them. Chandler is astonished to discover that she has not told them yet that he has moved in with her: she has avoided it because they do not like him. Chandler promises to win them over as best he can. Joey's new roommate, Janine, invites Joey and Ross to celebrate Thanksgiving with her friends, most of whom are attractive female dancers like her. Monica refuses to let them go, as they had earlier promised to spend Thanksgiving in her apartment, and Joey mopes around the apartment for the rest of the episode.
When the Gellers arrive, Phoebe is disturbed to discover she has a crush on Monica's father, Jack. She dreamed about him several days ago and has just had him walk into her life. Chandler's attempts to charm Jack and Judy are less than effective (he manages to offend Jack and Judy even more), but Ross figures out the source of their dismay when Judy sneaks in a comment that Chandler is probably stoned again. During his college years, Ross once tried marijuana; when his parents walked in on him, he claimed that Chandler had been smoking, and had just jumped out the window. Chandler and Monica demand he set the situation right, but he keeps ducking out of it for most of the episode.
Rachel has been entrusted with the makings of a dessert this year, despite her lack of success at culinary endeavors. She has chosen to make a traditional English trifle, which involves many layers of ladyfingers, jam, custard (made from scratch), raspberries, and beef sauteed with peas and onions, topped with bananas and cream. The beef in the trifle concerns Ross and Joey, and it eventually transpires that two of the pages in Monica's cookbook are stuck together, and her English trifle is actually half shepherd's pie.
Rachel does not realize her mistake when she confuses a minced meat pie for a mince pie. Not wanting Rachel to begin again and delay their date with Janine's friends, Ross and Joey decide to convince everyone to pretend her "beef-custard thing" is actually delicious so as not to hurt her feelings. In an attempt to distract Rachel with conversation, Ross is misconstrued with trying to get back together with her, and Joey offers acting advice, but actually turns out to like the dish. Phoebe is unable to eat the dessert because she is a vegetarian and heads to Rachel's old bedroom to take a nap, which forces up a new dream in which Jack cheats on her, and she is swept off her feet by Jacques Cousteau instead. The others all make excuses to eat their portions in locations that will allow them to dispose of the mess discreetly, while Ross devours his portion to stop Rachel realizing how bad it is.
After Ross again tries to get out of telling his parents the truth, Monica takes things into her own hands. This leads to a barrage of shouted revelations, ranging from childhood grievances to the fact that Monica and Chandler are living together, that Ross was fired from the museum, then married Rachel and got another divorce... Phoebe loves Jacques Cousteau, Rachel has just discovered beef does not belong in a trifle, and Joey just wants to leave. After Judy acknowledges the three women and Joey about their revelations, she and Jack express their disappointment in Ross for his bad behavior then apologize to Chandler and thank him for not only making Monica happy, but for being Ross' best friend through three divorces and a drug problem.
During the closing credits, Rachel is incredulous that everyone ate the dessert she made just so she would not feel bad. However, each person confesses to not having eaten his or her portion of the trifle, only to find out that Joey polished off each abandoned serving of dessert.
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