As Ross and Emily send out wedding invitations, he and Rachel each look back on their relationship together while Joey and Chandler look for a purpose in life.

Ross meets Elizabeth's father for the first time and unfortunately he takes an instant disliking to Ross. However Paul does hit it off with Rachel and she tries to talk Ross up but does so with mixed results. Joey almost gets fired from "Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E." after offending the operator of the robot. Meanwhile, Phoebe writes a book based on Monica and Chandler.

Monica and Chandler are getting married in four weeks and have to write their vows, but neither has a clue what to say, so they reflect on their past. In the end, the only real problem is who will be saying the vows first.

When Monica's credit card is stolen, she, along with Phoebe and Rachel, decide to catch the thief. Joey enlists his friends to help him come up with a less ethnic-sounding stage name. And Ross finds out that Marcel has reached sexual maturity and needs to be with other monkeys.

It's Christmas time and Monica tries tipping with cookies, rather than cash, with mixed results. Phoebe tries to track down her real father. And Chandler and Joey wait too late to shop for presents.

Rachel and Barry start dating again, which is kind of awkward since he's now engaged to Mindy, who wants Rachel to be her maid of honor. Meanwhile, Chandler goes nuts when a woman he likes won't return his phone calls.

Chandler and Ross's college friend Gandalf is planning to come to town. Gandalf is "the party wizard." Ross and Chandler are very excited until Gandalf cancels. However, they decide to make their own party with Joey's help. Joanna squashes Rachel's chance at a promotion. And when Monica fills in for a friend as food critic for a small newspaper, she must decide between a steady job as head chef of a restaurant she panned or keeping her catering business with her friend Phoebe.

Joey prepares for an interview with Soap Opera Digest, although he's afraid of saying something stupid and getting himself into trouble, so he enlists his friends to make sure things go well. During the interview, he reminisces about his past acting experiences, his friends and his romantic life.

Ross's lesbian ex-wife, Carol, is pregnant with his child, and he doesn't like her choice of last name for the baby. Rachel finds out that her ex-fiancé went on what would have been their honeymoon with her maid of honor.

The guys are uncomfortable with the thought of Carol's breast milk while Rachel is upset by Monica's growing friendship with Julie. Meanwhile, Joey competes with a fellow cologne spritzer for the affections of a beautiful colleague.

The gang is amazed to learn that Phoebe married a gay Canadian ice dancer to help him get his green card. And Ross seeks relationship advice from Rachel.

Monica gets back together with Fun Bobby. Joey lands a role of a neurosurgeon on Days of Our Lives. And Rachel, dating a guy named Russ, can't see his uncanny resemblance to Ross.

Monica is broke and decides to gamble on the stock market, while Chandler and Ross run into a couple of bullies in Central Park. Rachel and Joey help Phoebe locate her father, but a vicious dog prevents Phoebe from finally meeting him.

Phoebe's submariner ex-boyfriend visits New York on leave for 2 weeks from the Navy. Unfortunately, Phoebe catches chicken pox at Ben's first birthday party. When Monica realizes that Richard has no real neuroses, she worries that she is too strange for him. Chandler organizes a job as a processor for Joey.

Phoebe is reunited with her former singing partner who thinks "Smelly Cat" has hit potential; Chandler dates a woman with a prosthetic leg who also has some history with Joey. Meanwhile, Ross goes to a fashion seminar with Rachel, so she won't go with Mark, but falls asleep in the middle of it.

Rachel decides to start smoking in order to avoid missing important meetings with her boss. Meanwhile, Ben gets offered an audition for a soup commercial, and Joey auditions to be Ben's father during the ad. Also, Monica and Phoebe plan a surprise birthday party for Rachel together, but Monica takes over.

After a joke gets published in Playboy, Chandler and Ross have an argument about who came up with it first. Meanwhile, a wayward remark of Phoebe's leads to trouble between the girls and a broke Joey starts working at Central Perk.

While the men attend a hockey game and end up at a hospital, a delivery man accidentally brings a pizza meant for George Stephanopoulos, who lives across the street from the girls; they decide to peek at the former White House advisor with their binoculars.

Monica and Ross mourn the death of their grandmother with a little help from the gang, and Monica and her mom come to an unspoken understanding about the relationship between mothers and daughters. Meanwhile, Chandler is irritated by office speculation that he is gay.

The gang makes--then breaks--a pact to celebrate New Year's Eve without dates. Ross compensates for his loneliness by getting a roommate, a monkey named Marcel.

The gang searches frantically for Marcel, who slipped out of the apartment while Rachel was baby-sitting him. Just as it looks as though Rachel and Ross might actually spend a romantic evening together, her ex-fiancé barges in and declares his love for her.

Monica caters the wedding of Ross's ex-wife and her lesbian lover. Phoebe is possessed by the spirit of an 82-year-old massage client who dies in the middle of a session. And Rachel's mom comes to visit and drops a bombshell.

Monica's new boyfriend impresses Chandler and Joey. Phoebe's world view is shattered when she finds out what she missed as a child, and Rachel resents the fact that Ross has planned their whole life together.

Phoebe believes that her adoptive mother's spirit resides in a cat that jumped into her guitar case in Central Perk. Monica goes on a date with Rachel's hunky high-school boyfriend, who was cool in high-school, but a failure now. And when Joey and Chandler decide to sell the entertainment center, Joey takes stupidity to a new level.

Ross must decide whether to continue dating a girl he must travel two-and-a-half hours to see. Chandler sets Rachel up with a co-worker who misunderstands her intentions. Monica is being treated poorly by her new co-workers so she hires Joey just so she can fire him and show who's the boss. And Phoebe tries to write the perfect holiday song.