Eli, Phil and Shirley take over preparations for Stuckeybowl's 75th birthday party; Carol completely freaks out when Ed tells her that Molly stole her journal and read parts of it to him, but she can't resist asking Molly about his reaction; bored with their friends' dinner parties, Mike and Nancy accept an invitation to a kegger from Stacie and Jenny, coeds they find stranded by the side of the road with a flat tire; over his better judgment, Eli takes Phil's advice to invite Vivian to the party, and gets turned down; while one college party and its hangover are enough for Nancy, Mike decides to take the plunge again by attending "Luau Night" after helping Stacie and Jenny study for their chemistry exam, but gets more than he bargained for when he's forced to turn down Stacie's proposition; Shirley comes up with the right person and the right motivation, and Eli finally gets up the courage to approach a pretty woman at the party; Warren's band gets booked to play at the festivities and creates a memorable cover of "Tears of a Clown"; torn after Carol and Frankie each ask him to make a decision, Ed finally chooses to be with Frankie and sets off to look for Carol to tell her; Ed relives the past three years of their friendship as he sees himself with Carol everywhere he goes throughout Stuckeyville on his search; Ed meets Carol at the bench in the park where they kissed the first night he was back in Stuckeyville, and after he tells her that although their relationship may have started out as a high school crush, he loves every part of her and they have to be together, they fall into each other's arms.