Serena's grandmother announces that Serena has to go to Debutante Ball. However, Dan is not what CeCe wants as an escort for Serena, and she makes her opinion heard loud and clear, causing a rift between Serena and Dan. Although they are officially broken up, Nate asks Blair to go to the ball with him. A jealous Nate begins to suspect that Blair is seeing someone else. Jenny finds herself having to make the decision of either attending her mother's art opening or following her dreams to the Debutante Ball, even though her parents don't want her to go.

As the summer draws to a close in the Hamptons, Serena and Nate have everyone fooled into thinking they are a couple to cover up the fact that Nate has been hooking up with a married, older woman. Blair returns from abroad with a hot guy on her arm, making a very jealous Chuck question his decision to leave Blair stranded at the heliport. Dan has spent the summer assisting a famous author. While interning for Eleanor Waldorf's company, Jenny sneaks an invite to a much-coveted Hamptons' White Party at which Eric introduces her to socialite Tinsley Mortimer.

The entire Upper East Side of Manhattan is rocked when Bart Bass dies suddenly in a limo accident. Serena and Eric take the news very calmly while Lily has a troubling time despite her mother, Cece's, awkward attempts to comfort her. Chuck begins to blame Lily for his father's death and threatens to reveal a secret that Bart found on her before his accident. Meanwhile, Blair's mother, Eleanor, prepares for her latest marriage to Aaron's father Cyrus.

In a flashback to the 80s, 17-year-old Lily Rhodes gets kicked out of boarding school and runs away to Los Angeles, reconnecting with her parents, Rick and Cece, and sister, Carol. Back in present day, Blair and Nate attend prom together, but the evening doesn't turn out exactly as planned and Chuck and Serena have a little something to do with that. Serena and Lily don't see eye-to-eye over Serena's recent run-in with the law.

It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving on the Upper East Side if there wasn’t a serving or two of some major drama for the holiday. Blair suspects her mom has been keeping a big secret from her, but it turns out to be something else entirely. Vanessa is supposed to spend Thanksgiving with her parents, but has a fight with her mom and shows up on Dan’s doorstep. Rufus learns that Lily has been lying to him about her mother, Cece. Chuck tells Nate that he has some potentially damaging information about one of their friends. Jenny learns that Eric was behind her very public embarrassment at Cotillion and can’t pass up a chance to get even. Serena is put in a very awkward position when her mother invites Trip and Maureen to join them for Thanksgiving dinner.

Despite being grounded, Jenny continues to see Damien who tells Jenny that he wants to have sex with her. Lily tells Rufus the big secret she has been keeping from him even though she knows it's a huge risk. Dan and Vanessa explore a new stage of their friendship. Chuck is forced to make an extremely difficult decision about his hotel.

Chuck offers to throw a wedding for a very pregnant Dorota who insists that she and Vanya have a traditional wedding before her parents arrive from Poland and find their daughter pregnant and without a husband.. Dorota asks Blair and Chuck to be part of the ceremony and walk her down the aisle. Serena tells Nate she is having breakfast with the Humphreys when in reality she’s secretly meeting up with Carter Baizen. Rufus discovers that Lily has been lying to him about her whereabouts.

As Lily awaits the consequences of her decision, William van der Woodsen, CeCe and Lily’s sister, Carol, come into town to support her and be part of a Taschen photo shoot on “modern royalty” in which the Rhodes family is participating. Unbeknownst to Carol, who has always chosen to keep her daughter Charlie far away from the Upper East Side, Charlie has followed her to New York to meet Serena and the rest of the family. Blair has an epiphany about her future, and grapples with the knowledge of whom she’s destined to be with.

Lily, Charlie and Serena eagerly anticipate the Studio 54 party being thrown in CeCe’s honor. Nate takes on a new role at the Spectator, but his first big story turns out to be about someone he knows all too well. Blair turns to an unlikely person for help.

Dan feels honored when he learns that Upright Citizen’s Brigade is performing excerpts from his book, Inside. Blair tries to prove Serena’s suspicions wrong in order to save their friendship.. On her way out of town, Ivy ends up on a collision course with the van der Woodsens.