Ross cuts things short with Charlie when he feels guilty about Joey, and neither Joey nor Rachel can really enjoy being together when they can only think about Ross. On the plane ride home, Ross talks to Joey about Charlie, and Joey gives Ross his blessing, but Joey doesn't get around to telling Ross about Rachel. Rachel tries to talk to Ross about her and Joey later, but can't seem to get the words out. Rachel and Joey, who share an apartment, try to stay away from each other, but end up in a passionate embrace just as Ross walks in. To take care of her frizzies, Monica gets corn rows in her hair, and Chandler can't stand them. Phoebe finds out that Mike has a girlfriend named Precious back in New York, and Phoebe ends up dumping Precious for Mike.

Ross claims that he's fine with Joey and Rachel being a couple, and to prove how fine he is, he invites them to have dinner with him and Charlie. An incredibly uncomfortable evening ensues, in which a frantically "fine" Ross gets drunker and drunker. By the end of the night, Joey says he'll stay with Ross to make sure he's okay as the women flee. In the morning, an embarassed and chagrined Ross admits that he's not fine, but he will be, and if Joey and Rachel care about eachother, that's all that matters. Chandler and Monica consult with another couple about adopting a child, but have to flee the scene after Chandler lets the cat out of the bag to the couple's child that he's adopted. Phoebe is visited by her brother, Frank Jr., and the triplets. Frank is so tired from raising triplets that he begs Phoebe to take one of the kids off his hands, but after trying to select which child to give up, Frank realizes that he can't bear to part with any of them.

Joey and Rachel finally get to consummate their relationship, but after a few failed attempts, they realize that they're just too good friends to be sexual together. Monica and Phoebe try to avoid an annoying old friend who is back in town, and Monica finds out that Phoebe once tried to avoid her the same way. Ross goes to a tanning salon and accidentally ends up with a really dark tan only on the front of his body.

Rachel plans an elaborate first birthday party for Emma, but it's delayed when the guest of honor is napping. Joey doesn't have a present, so he does a last-minute dramatic reading from one of Emma's books and ends up overshadowing Phoebe's song. When Rachel discovers that the cake that was supposed to be shaped like a bunny is actually shaped like a penis, she drives to New Jersey to get a new cake. Ross goes to bring Rachel her driver's license when she gets pulled over for speeding, and in the meantime, Ross's parents leave to drive home before dark, Phoebe goes to meet a massage client, Joey runs out for a last-minute audition, and Monica and Chandler, who would rather be on a romantic weekend in Vermont, are stuck baby-sitting Emma, who is now awake. Rachel is saddened by the disaster of Emma's birthday party, but Ross fixes the cake to look like a bunny, Phoebe and Joey come back, and everyone completes a video that Emma can watch when she's 18.

Rachel's self-centered sister Amy shows up and tells Rachel that she's marrying a rich older guy. Rachel convinces Amy that this is not a good idea and so Amy leaves him and moves in with Rachel and a very unwilling Joey. When Rachel and Ross need a last-minute baby-sitter, Rachel decides to have faith in her sister and leaves Emma with her, but she is horrified when her baby is returned to her with newly pierced ears. Amy decides that she wants to be a baby stylist, and she and Rachel manage to make a tenuous peace. Joey writes a recommendation letter for Chandler and Monica to the adoption agency they're using, and after Ross shows him how to use the thesaurus on his computer, it comes out like gibberish. Chandler and Monica encourage Joey to just write from his heart and stop trying to sound smart, but then they're horrified when he drops off his letter at the agency without running it by them first. Chandler is amazed when the adoption agency compliments their choice on getting a child to write a recommendation letter. Mike takes Phoebe to a Knicks game on their one-year anniversary and she rags on a proposal on the big screen just before she realizes that Mike was about to propose to her just that way. Phoebe takes her friends' advice and takes Mike back to a Knicks game and proposes to him on the big screen, but they end up getting cat-called and Mike gets the nickname Mr. No-Balls from fellow Knicks fans. Finally, after trying to sneak the ring into a piece of cake at dinner, Mike just gets down on one knee and does it right. And Phoebe happily says yes.

Ross applies for a research grant, but the person who decides whether or not he gets it turns out to be Charlie's Nobel laureate ex-boyfriend, Dr. Benjamin Hobart. Hobart tells Ross he'll get the grant if he breaks up with Charlie, but Ross refuses. When Charlie finds out that Hobart is still interested in her, however, she makes the decision easy, by telling Hobart that she still loves him and leaving Ross. Chandler gets his first national TV ad at work, and Joey wants to audition for the part, but Chandler doesn't think Joey would be right for it. Joey gives Chandler a tape of his past TV ad work, and Chandler lies and says that his bosses didn't like it. Joey knows that Chandler lied and didn't watch the tape, because otherwise Chandler would have had some choice words about a Japanese "lipstick for men" ad that Joey did. Phoebe gets rid of some stuff now that Mike is moving in with her, including two scary paintings of women coming out of their frames. Rachel and Monica fight over who will get stuck with which one while trying not to insult Phoebe.

Monica and Chandler are visited by a social worker to determine whether or not they would be suitable parents for an adopted child, but when they find out that the social worker once slept with Joey and he never called her back, the whole visit becomes a farce in trying to convince her that they're not friends with Joey. Phoebe and Mike decide to take the gobs of money they would spend on a big wedding and donate it to a charity instead, but when Phoebe has second thoughts they have to ask for their sizeable check back. Rachel tries to help Ross get over his fear of spiders while Ross gets Rachel over her fear of playground swings.

The friends trick Monica into once again cooking Thanksgiving dinner, but then she's furious when they're all an hour late showing up. Chandler is proud that he made the cranberry sauce. Phoebe convinces Rachel to enter Emma into a baby beauty pageant, and Ross is upset until he finds out that Emma won a thousand dollars. Ross and Joey get back from a hockey game, and help Phoebe and Rachel beg their way into Monica and Chandler's apartment after Monica locks them out. Everyone fears Monica will be furious when Joey breaks down the door and smashes into the food, but Monica is nothing but pleased after she gets a phone call from the adoption agency saying that a young pregnant woman in Ohio has picked her and Chandler as parents.

Monica and Chandler go to Ohio to meet the woman who is considering giving her baby up for adoption. When they get there, they realize that she is under the misconception that Chandler is a doctor and Monica is a reverend. They don't correct her, but when she decides she definitely wants them to adopt her baby, Chandler's conscious gets the better of him and they admit who they really are. The mother is reasonably horrified that they lied, and says that she would never consider giving them her baby now, but after some well-spoken words from Chandler, she reconsiders, making Chandler and Monica the happiest people in the world. Rachel and Phoebe take Ross shopping for some sharp new clothes for a date that he's going on, but when Ross is a pain in the store, Rachel tells him that she'll just buy stuff for him and he should trust her. Ross accidentally ends up with one of Rachel's shopping bags, and not only does he wear a pink flowery shirt on his date, but it turns out that it's the same shirt as his date is wearing. Joey dates a friend of Phoebe's, but can't handle it when she keeps stealing food off his plate.

Phoebe and Rachel see Chandler getting into a car with a blonde woman and decide he must be having an affair, but the truth is much worse: Chandler and Monica have put an offer on a house in Westchester and are planning on moving out of the city. The whole gang remembers all the good times that they've had in Chandler and Monica's apartment, and the Bings get their house, much to the dismay of their friends.

Rachel and Monica hire a last-minute stripper for Phoebe's bachelorette party when they realize that she wants one. Their stripper turns out to be a rotund middle-aged man who actually needs career-counseling and a trip to the hospital after too much strenuous dancing. Ross and Chandler go to a college reunion, and a number of secrets from the past come back to haunt them when they realize that they both betrayed pacts that they made in school. Joey is a celebrity guest on The $10,000 Pyramid, with host Donny Osmond, and ruins the chances for his partner to win any money.

Monica drives Phoebe crazy when she overplans for the wedding, but when Phoebe is left to her own devices it doesn't take her long to beg for Monica's help again. Phoebe asks Joey to walk her down the aisle at her wedding, and Joey takes the assignment a little to seriously, taking on the role of Phoebe's father to a ridiculous degree. With Joey giving Phoebe away, and Monica and Rachel being bridesmaids, Ross and Chandler feel left out. When one of Mike's groomsmen has to cancel at the last minute, Ross and Chandler fight over taking over the position, but Mike ends up giving it to his family dog, Chappy. A blizzard brings the wedding down from Monica's fancy affair to the small wedding Phoebe dreamed of... even though she didn't dream of it being in the snow on the street. Joey steps in for the Reverend who gets held up by the weather, and a left-out Chandler gets to step in for Joey and give Phoebe away since Ross won the honor of carrying Chappy down the aisle. Phoebe and Mike happily get married with just a few friends in the snow.

Erica comes to visit Monica and Chandler and see the New York City tourist sites. Chandler ends up being the one mesmerized by the city, however. Erica tells them that there's a possibility that the baby's father is a murderer, but Monica gets the details and is relieved to learn that that's impossible. Phoebe tries to teach Joey French for an audition, but Joey keeps speaking gibberish and insisting that it's French. Rachel turns to Ross for some comfort when her father has a non-fatal heart attack. When Ross turns her down for sympathy sex, they both realize that sex will never be off the table for them.

Rachel has a lunch-time job interview with Gucci, but is busted by her boss at Ralph Lauren who is sitting next to her in the restaurant. She loses her current job and doesn't get a new job, just as Ross is celebrating getting tenure. While cleaning out her office, Rachel runs into her old friend Mark from Bloomingdale's, who gives her an incredible job offer in Paris. Phoebe decides to change her name now that she's married, but when she realizes she can change it to anything she wants, she officially becomes Princess Consuela Banana-Hammock. Mike convinces her to change it back by telling her that he's decided to officially change his name to Crap Bag. Monica and Chandler convince Joey to come see their new house with them. Once there, Joey makes a feeble attempt at convincing them that they don't want to move there, but the little girl who currently lives there convinces him that he should let his friends be happy. Monica and Chandler assure Joey that they have a room for him in the house.

The house next door to Monica and Chandler's new place goes on the market, and they are horrified when they find out that Janice is putting a bid on it. Chandler pretends that he wants to have an extramarital affair with Janice in order to scare her off from buying the house. Rachel announces that she's moving to Paris for a job at Louis Vuitton, and Ross scrambles to get her her old job back at Ralph Lauren. Ross, using the fact that Rachel's boss, Mr. Zelner, has a dinosaur-crazy son, secretly bribes Zelner into offering Rachel her job back at Ralph Lauren with higher pay. Rachel accepts the offer, but when Ross sees how disappointed she is to not be going to Paris, he encourages her to ditch Ralph Lauren and go. Phoebe finds out that Joey's agent has died, and does everything possible to prevent his finding out about it for awhile because he's been so upset by so many of his friends moving away.

The night before Rachel leaves for Paris, Monica and Chandler throw her a going away party, but she chooses to take everyone aside and say goodbye indvidually. Ross is hurt when Rachel skips him and heads for bed, and goes to her apartment and yells at her. She chases him back to his apartment and tells him that it was just too hard to say goodbye, because when she thinks about him she doesn't want to leave. He spontaneously kisses her. She looks at him for a moment, and then passionately kisses him back. Monica puts everyone to work packing up her and Chandler's apartment. While packing up the guest room, Chandler finds a pair of fur-lined handcuffs and thinks that they belong to Monica. When Monica says they're not hers, he asks Rachel and then Phoebe, but neither of them claim them. Finally, Chandler figures out who they belong to when he finds pictures of Monica's grandmother "using" the handcuffs. Joey and Chandler create a fun new game with packing material. Erica, who is in New York for her last few weeks of pregnancy, goes into labor, and Chandler and Monica take her to the hospital.

Monica and Chandler are surprised (and Chandler is a little panicked) when Erica gives birth to twins. However, they happily bring home their two children, a boy named Jack (after Monica's dad) and a girl named Erica. Joey gets Monica and Chandler a housewarming present of a chick and a duck, but they get lost inside the foos ball table. Joey and Chandler can't bring themselves to dismantle the table, even though they know that they need to save the birds, so Monica destroys it for them. Chandler wisely suggests that Joey keep the birds. Rachel and Ross sleep together, and Ross is devastated when Rachel says that it was a great way to say goodbye. With encouragement and help from Phoebe, Ross decides to chase Rachel down at the airport and tell her that he loves and wants her to stay. After much misadventure that includes going to the wrong airport, Ross catches Rachel at the gate, but when he blurts out his feelings she tells him she's still going to Paris. A miserable Ross returns home, only to have Rachel walk in his door a few minutes later and tell him that she reconsidered and she wants to stay with him. They happily reunite. All six Friends get together at Monica and Chandler's apartment as the last of their boxes are being moved out. All six of them leave their key for the apartment on the kitchen counter and go downstairs for one last coffee together.