Due to budget cuts, Pawnee Central High School has canceled its prom. At practically the last minute, Leslie gets the Parks Department to put on the prom. Leslie works with senior Alison Clifford on planning the prom, while Ben and Tom are assigned to play the music.
At the prom, Ron and Leslie fight over Alison's summer plans, with Leslie wanting her to take an intern position in city government and Ron wanting her to work for his friend who has a sawmill. The principal has to step in and tell Leslie and Ron to stop bothering Alison.
Ben and Tom butt heads over the type of music they'll play, with Tom assuming the high school kids will prefer his hip-hop and R&B. However, they are more interested in Ben's classic rock, making Tom realize he is getting old. Ben tells him it just makes him a normal adult, because he is too busy with important things to keep up with what kids like.
Andy takes April to the prom. He enjoys himself immensely but April hates it. She wonders to Donna how she can love Andy when she hates what he likes, and Donna suggests she talk to Andy. Andy comforts her with how great their relationship is, and she agrees to stay, even stuffing the ballot for prom king so Andy will win. However, when it is discovered that he is 33, they are kicked out of the prom.
Leslie and Ron apologize to Alison. She introduces them to her boyfriend, Leslie's old arch-nemesis: Greg Pikitis.
Tropes:
- Angrish: Leslie's reaction upon discovering that Greg Pikitis stapled her dress to a nearby tablecloth.
- The Bus Came Back: Greg Pikitis returns after several episodes of absence.
- Call-Back: Greg Pikitis returns and he is dating the girl that both Leslie and Ron adore and want to mentor, and the association makes Leslie decide the girl is an idiot.
- Condemned by History: Discussed - when Ben boasts about his time as a college radio DJ known as "Zoot Suit Wyatt, the King of Swing", Tom says this:Tom: I thought we as a culture agreed to forget the year that everyone was into swing.
- Foreshadowing: Grizzyl gets an early name-drop.
- Heroic BSoD: Tom freaks out when he discovers the teens prefer Ben's music to the electronic hip-hop and R&B he assumed was popular with the demographic and that he's not as in-tune with young people as he thought.
- Insane Troll Logic: Tom knows that songs with auto-tune and electronic music are currently popular, and from that he reasons that "popular" means "so distorted you can't understand the lyrics and with no identifiable instruments". That what is considered "hip" among young people is universal he takes as a given. He, therefore, concludes that hip-hop meeting the above requirements will be what a bunch of middle-to-upper-class white kids in the Midwest are into.
- Jerkass: Tom is a complete dick to Ben the entire episode, even when Ben is trying to comfort him for feeling like he's an out of touch loser.
- Popularity Polynomial: In-Universe, Tom finds that the high school students prefer Ben's style and choice of music. However, Tom's taste in music is really a lot more niche than he seems to think, so Ben's Classic Rock being something they'd actually heard before probably helped.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Tom thinks he's some cool guy who is in touch with the youth and everyone else is a loser. Instead all of the kids at the prom hates his music and thinks he's an out of touch loser.
- Technopath: According to Leslie, her prom date, Harvey from the AV club, became one after almost being electrocuted by a VCR.Leslie: Legend has it that he can still turn on a microwave just by blinking at it.
