The gang decides not to let an obnoxious student from their Spanish class into the study group. The dean appoints Jeff as editor of the student paper, where Annie is working on a story that could expose the dean as a racist.
Jeff runs in to problems when the study group and the dean discover that he's seeing a professor, while Troy and Britta discover each other's secret that they are both taking dance classes.
When Annie starts hanging out with Britta's ex-boyfriend Vaughn, Britta and Jeff vow to protect her. Meanwhile, Pierce feels left out at Troy and Abed's movie night.
Jeff sets out to fix his relationship with Britta after things get awkward with a drunken phone call. Meanwhile, Annie and Shirley make plans to humiliate Señor Chang in order to defend Troy and Pierce's dignity.
Jeff refuses to participate in a pool class because the teacher forces him to play in gym shorts, and the study group discovers a white version of Abed at the college.
It's Family Day at Greendale. Pierce tries to build a relationship with his stepdaughter, but she has eyes for Jeff instead. Britta gets in trouble with Troy's Nana, and Shirley's kids cause problems for Abed's father.
Jeff signs up for a pottery class for an easy credit, but winds up failing the class when his jealousy of another student gets the best of him. Meanwhile, Pierce's incompetence could ruin his group's grade in boating class.
Britta's April Fool's Day prank has disastrous consequences, but she refuses to confess that she was responsible. Annie and Shirley temporarily work as security guards, but both of them want to be the "bad cop."
Jeff's plan to get chicken fingers from the school cafeteria for the study group quickly evolves into a mafia movie-style endeavor with Abed calling all the shots.
Shirley gets Pierce kicked out the study group, Jeff and Britta plot revenge on a group of high schoolers who make fun of them for attending community college, and Troy helps Abed accomplish some of his movie-clichéd social goals.
Greendale Community College is transformed into an apocalyptic war zone when the dean promises the winner of a paintball competition priority registration, and it could fan the flames of sexual tension between Jeff and Britta.
Annie uses inside information about Señor Chang to get him fired so that the study group will be forced to stay together and take Spanish again. Meanwhile, Troy discovers that he has a natural skill for plumbing.
Jeff and Britta engage in a dangerous game of relationship one-upsmanship in response to Britta's embarrassing moment at the end of the previous school year, which could cause the entire study group to fall apart.
Jeff blows off the study group and their break-dancing competition to hang out with his old co-workers at the law firm, but Annie tries to prove that one of them is the person who turned him in and got him fired.
Pierce's religion convinces him that the spirit of his dead mother is captured in a cheap lava lamp, Jeff has a crisis of faith when he learns he has high cholesterol, and Britta and Annie try to raise money for the oil spill.
Everyone in the study group except Abed is stuck in a crude 1980s space simulator as it is towed off campus, and Abed leads the team given the difficult assignment of bringing them home.
Shirley asks Abed to make a film about Jesus, but he quickly angers Shirley by turning it into a self-indulgent mess. Meanwhile, Pierce begins blowing off the study group to hang out with the "hipsters."
Britta, Annie and Shirley discover that Abed is skilled at insulting the mean girls, so they use him to their advantage. Meanwhile, Troy and Jeff find a secret garden with a trampoline, which they use for relaxation.
Dean Pelton tries to bust Jeff for a phony night school credit, which only unveils a series of conspiracies, plots, and double-crosses between Jeff, Annie, and the dean.
The study group takes Troy out to a bar to celebrate his 21st birthday. While there, Annie assumes a new identity, Abed is propositioned by a man, one of Shirley's secrets is discovered, and Britta and Jeff fight over the "cool" bars.
When Abed wakes up to discover that everything is in stop motion animation, Professor Duncan and the study group help him try to discover the true meaning of Christmas.