Sex and the City

As Fleet Week kicks off in New York City, Carrie, Samantha and Charlotte begin to adjust to Miranda's new life with baby Brady. Samantha is finding it hard to adjust to "cleaning up her act" in front of Brady, especially since she's still seething over Richard's infidelity. Newly single Charlotte is ready to find her next great love, whereas Carrie wonders if after Big and Aidan, she's all out of great loves. She asks: When it comes to being carefree single girls, have we missed the boat?

Carrie turns to Manhattan for romance, at first reveling in her amorous relationship with the city but then feeling the lonely side of dating NYC. The only company that she can find is a fellow single woman, albeit a much older one who likes to mix her prescription drugs in with her ice cream. When a chance encounter with a sailor yields an invite to the Fleet Week party, Carrie jumps at the opportunity.

Meanwhile, Samantha is on a mission to get back at Richard. First she throws a martini in his face and then plasters his neighborhood with posters calling him a cheater and liar. Richard isn't fazed and persists in apologizing to Sam and professing his love for her.

While Miranda works on the art of breastfeeding, Carrie, Samantha and Charlotte go party with some studly sailors. Charlotte flirts with an officer who isn't quite a gentleman. And despite a Southern sailor's best efforts, Carrie goes home alone, realizing that until she lets go of the past and finds her true love, dating New York will be just fine for now.

At their weekly breakfast, Samantha tells the girls that she's back together with Richard. The girls are shocked and skeptical. Miranda is also shocked when Steve tells her he'd like baby Brady to be baptized so he doesn't go to Hell. Carrie relates that she's finding it difficult to drum up new material for her weekly sex column now that she's not in a relationship.

But just when she thinks she's going to get fired, Carrie finds out that a publisher is interested in turning her past columns into a book. She meets with the two single female publishers and is at a loss for words when they ask her to give her readers a message. Is she an optimist or a pessimist? Carrie wonders: Is hope a drug we need to go off of or is it keeping us alive?

Even Charlotte needs a little more hope and turns to a self-help program that touts the power of positive affirmations. She brings Carrie along to the next lecture and asks the speaker why her affirmations aren't working. The speaker tells Charlotte she needs to put her self out there, but Carrie stands up for her friend and says, "Believe me, she's out there."

Meanwhile, Miranda agrees to baptize Brady to make Steve (and his nutty mother) happy. She asks Carrie to be the godmother but Carrie worries that she's become too cynical to offer any guidance to Brady. Miranda will hear nothing of it - Carrie's her best friend. As the holy water is poured over Brady, Carrie hopes that it will wash away some of her "sin-icism." She goes home and decides to dedicate her book to Charlotte - the eternal optimist.

Charlotte's turning 36, but plans on staying 35 as far as anyone else is concerned. To celebrate Charlotte's "faux" birthday, Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte join Samantha on her latest private jet trip with Richard. Destination: Atlantic City. Carrie is determined to spend some quality time gambling with her girlfriends, but finds that isn't so easy. Miranda wants to catch up on her sleep and read The New Yorker, and Samantha is busy keeping an eye on Richard's every move. Meanwhile, Charlotte is increasingly fearful that she's become an old maid. She gives herself an Atlantic City style makeover and stuns the girls with her new racy, red lipstick look.

Carrie realizes people go to casinos for the same reason they go on blind dates - hoping to hit the jackpot. But she wonders: If we know the house always wins, why gamble?

As she watches the chesty casino ladies show off their assets to Richard, Samantha's suspicions become unbearable. She tells Richard that she loves him but she loves herself more. She leaves behind the mega diamond ring and the pearl thong he just gave her and walks out the door. With her new look, Charlotte is ready to meet some men but Carrie's feeling cynical and doesn't see the point. Sitting on the boardwalk and watching a happy couple taking in the sunset, Carrie realizes that she's hiding in her friends and that perhaps there are things worth gambling on.

Carrie is appalled to see a mocked-up photo of herself all but naked on the proposed cover of her "Sex and the City" book. While browsing for book cover ideas at Barnes & Noble, Samantha offers to help Carrie create a look that says 'smart and sexy.' Charlotte heads for the Self Help aisle but when she sees the lonely desperate looking characters there, she flees. She refuses to identify with such women and opts to buy a book in the privacy of her own home - online.

Meanwhile in the privacy of Samantha's office, a hunky Worldwide Express guy delivers a 'package' that Samantha can't resist opening immediately. While Samantha provides a service of her own to the delivery guy, Carrie walks in and right back out. Back in her apartment, Carrie thinks about 'judgment.' She asks: "Should you judge a book by its cover?"

On a quest to slim down, Miranda, aka "Baby Fat," makes friends with a fellow Weight Watcher, Tom, aka "Big Boned." Post weigh-in session, they indulge in a taboo glazed donut together and then work off the calories in bed. Miranda enjoys Tom's moves until he kisses her with 'her' all over his face. On their second date, she gently alerts him to the problem but he can't handle the criticism and leaves saying he has to concentrate on his diet.

Things get tense between Carrie and Samantha as they disagree on the right look for the book cover. Carrie finds Samantha's selections a little too risque. Samantha accuses Carrie of judging her sexual behavior. A couple days later, Carrie apologizes for being judgmental. Sam relaxes and admits she judges herself too. With Samantha's help, Carrie wears a sexy short suit and holds her laptop for the cover shoot. She looks fabulous.

Carrie is gearing up for the biggest night of her life - her book-launch party. Naturally, Samantha serves as Carrie's publicist and party-planner. Miranda, who's back in the office and loving it, gets a timely call from her pre-baby ex-lover, Walker Lewis. Excited by the prospect of a replay of their one-night stand, she invites him to be her 'plus one' for the party.

While discussing the party particulars with her punchy publisher, Carrie meets the charismatic (and cute) writer, Jack Berger. After a flirtatious fast-food meal on a park bench, Carrie dares to invite Berger to be her 'plus one' for her party, but her hopes are shattered when Berger casually mentions he has a girlfriend.

Carrie tells the girls that she 'sparked' with Berger and laments the fact that he's unavailable. Miranda admits that she purposely neglected to tell Walker she has a baby. After discussing the whole 'plus one' problem, Carrie starts thinking about what she has (a job and an apartment) and what she doesn't have (a boyfriend). She wonders why we let the one thing we don't have effect how we feel about everything. She asks: Why does one minus a 'plus one' feel like it adds up to zero?

Samantha decides to splurge on a chemical peel to prep for the book party and emerges looking like an overripe tomato. Charlotte prepares for the party by bedding country club-ready Justin Anderson the third, her 'perfect plus one.' The scene is perfect until Bunny barges in spewing accusations and Charlotte is left minus one.

Carrie soaks in the glamorous party in her honor and thinks 'Who needs a date? - until she spots Berger sans girlfriend in the crowd. It dawns on her that she's lonely. Miranda, on the other hand, has lured Walker back to her home. However, when Brady's cries interrupt them mid-climax, Walker walks out. Miranda takes Brady in her arms and realizes that she's not the same person - she's plus one. On the way home, Carrie's driver reminds her she's got something to celebrate. Spirits lifted, Carrie realizes she likes knowing that there are men out there who can still give her that 'spark.'

While out on the town with Stanford, Carrie runs into a woman who identifies herself as the person who went out with Aidan post-Carrie. The woman, Nina Katz, makes a scary face implying Carrie really did a number on Aidan.

Miranda is a sleepless cranky mess. Baby Brady won't stop screaming and crying, leaving mommy Miranda at her wits end. Charlotte's screaming problem comes in the form of her ex-mother-in-law Bunny who is fighting tooth and nail to get Charlotte out of the MacDougal apartment. Charlotte hires a fierce lawyer to get Bunny off her back.

Carrie anxiously reads the New York Times review of her new book. She gets a rave review but she's bothered by the writer's characterization of her having a life "where the men are disposable." She worries that Aidan might also feel that way. She wonders why we only believe the negative things people say about us.

Frustrated mama Miranda is saved by the kindness of a stranger - her neighbor - who brings her a special vibrating baby chair that works like magic. Even more magical is a surprise visit from Samantha who offers to baby-sit while Miranda takes her appointment with a top hairstylist. When the vibrating chair fails to keep Brady at bay, Samantha pulls out her brand-new vibrator, and Brady goes back to happy baby land.

Carrie is obsessing over the bad things Nina Katz might be saying and thinking about her. She meets with Steve and asks how Aidan is doing. Steve says he's fine now but that he was devastated and depressed for quite a while. Carrie runs into Nina again and defends her relationship and break-up behavior with Aidan. Right after she says it, Carrie realizes that the critic she was most afraid of - and the one whose opinion counts most - is herself.

Carrie tells the girls that she's headed to San Francisco for her book tour and that she is desperate to get laid. And well, yes, she just might call upon Big while she's there. She recruits Samantha to join her on the journey West - by train. Feeling jaded by NY and NY men, Samantha is up for the adventure. Carrie wonders: "Are we the new bachelors?"

Charlotte gets a surprise visit from her bald, sweaty lawyer, Harry, with divorce papers in hand. Harry invites the new divorcee to view a swanky bachelor's apartment that is about to go on the market. At the apartment (complete with bedroom strobe lights and surround sound), Harry blurts out that he finds her incredibly sexy. The old Charlotte is taken aback but the new Charlotte jumps him. She confides in her gay pal Anthony that she had incredible sex but that she has no interest in being Harry's girlfriend. Anthony congratulates her and gives her the lowdown on the rules of 'hot sex' and nothing more.

Back on the railways, Carrie and Samantha are nowhere near hot sex. Even crashing a bachelor party in the bar car turns up nothing but happily married men. Samantha nurses her wounds with a bottle of champagne while Carrie obsesses over the inopportune arrival of a giant pimple.

Arriving at her book reading, Carrie finds herself in front of an audience more excited about the next star reader, Mr. Winkle the dog. During the Q and A session, Big emerges from the crowd and asks her if the "Big" she writes about has a name. Carrie coyly tries to lure Big to bed but he's more interested in understanding what she wrote about him. He tells her he doesn't want her to get hurt again. Despite Carrie's insistence that she's fine, Big goes to bed with her book, not her, on top of him.

Meanwhile, Charlotte is back in bed with her lawyer and practices the art of 'just sex' - sending him on his way with no romantic talk when they're done. Carrie has given up on any sex, but by morning, Big is back to himself, joking that she'll need more material for the sequel.

The girls are invited to the unlikely wedding of Carrie's supposedly gay friend, flamboyant lounge singer Bobby Fine to society lady Bitsy Von Muffling. Stunned by the news, Carrie thinks about what it takes to make a relationship work. She asks: When it comes to saying 'I do,' is a relationship a relationship without the zsa zsa zsu (aka: that special something that gives you butterflies in the stomach)?

Charlotte's new 'just sex' partner, Harry, invites her to be his date for the big Hamptons wedding. Charlotte worries about his crass behavior, but accepts provided that hairy Harry wax his back. In another not so clear relationship, Miranda inexplicably finds herself having sex with Steve. Meanwhile, Samantha calls upon the services of her ex, Richard, in another way: she arranges to throw a party at his house in the Hamptons.

On the way out to the Hamptons, Carrie runs into Jack Berger, who tells her he broke up with his girlfriend. Carrie can't help but feel that zsa zsa zsu. At Samantha's fabulous pool party, Carrie and Berger have a heart to heart about relationships past, but it's too much for Berger to handle and he departs suddenly and swiftly. Carrie wonders if she should just throw in the towel and settle for a so-so relationship. Samantha struggles to enjoy herself because of the appearance of three of Richard's bikini-clad bimbo babes. She accuses the party-crashers of freeloading but realizes that she herself is still hurting over the end of her affair with Richard.

At Bobby and Bitsy's wedding, the girls find themselves moved by the mutual love of the bride and groom. It appears Bobby and Bitsy do have the zsa zsa zsu. Obviously inspired, Charlotte tells Harry mid-dance that she may be falling in love with him. He says he shares her feelings but that he's Jewish and he has to marry a Jew. Also on the dance floor, Berger tells Carrie that he'd like to go on a date with her before they break up. Carrie is reminded why she refuses to settle for anything less than butterflies.