Ann has been dating herself instead of getting swept up in a new boyfriend's personality. Six weeks into the experiment, she's come to a realization: she wants to be a mother. It's a big decision, but she tells Leslie she's looking to into having a child on her own by using a sperm donor. Leslie wants to be supportive but worries that Ann is making a huge mistake. At the sperm bank, they run into Sewage Joe. He claims to be a frequent donor, and his patronage is enough to scare Ann off.
Meanwhile, Ben is trying to find a caterer for his and Leslie's wedding. He's accompanied by Chris (who loves vegetables), Ron (who loves meat), and Tom (who loves taking photos of food instead of eating it). Ben breaks the three-way tie by deciding on the caterer who served an appetizer of mini calzones.
While Leslie is busy with her councilwoman duties, April is tasked with leading a public forum for the Pawnee Commons that week. She decides that the best way to survive the ordeal is to imitate Leslie and even dons one of Leslie's pantsuits to tackle the task. April can't get the hang of Leslie's style, however, and the first meeting quickly spirals out of her control.
Leslie inadvertently helps Ann realize that her ideal sperm donor should be someone she knows. With a new wave of enthusiasm, Ann narrows it down to three potential sperm donors and brings them to the office, pretending she's interviewing them for a blog. Ann's third candidate, Howard Tuttleman (aka, The Douche), is surprisingly the best option. Leslie is not convinced and tries to scare off Howard by telling him Ann's motives behind meeting with him. This move backfires on Leslie, as Howard goes on the radio the next day and begins proclaiming he is going to be having a "Little Douche". Leslie does her best to win back Ann's forgiveness, even showing up at the radio station and begging The Douche to stop. In the end, Ann forgives Leslie and admits she may have rushed her decision to have a child, and agrees to take her time considering her options.
The day after the taste testing, Chris, Ben, and Ron are all completely crippled by a severe case of food poisoning. They try to reach out to Tom, worried he may be suffering. When Tom finds them and isn't sick like they are, they realize that it was the mini calzones that made them sick due to Tom being the only one who did not eat them. Ben swears off calzones and chooses JJ's Diner to be the wedding caterer, which Leslie happily agrees to.
With Andy's help, April realizes that the best way to run these public forums is to be herself. The next day, April lays down the law and does things the April way, and the results are fantastic. While she got thirty complaints for being excessively rude, she got eighty signatures supporting the park. April and Andy celebrate April's victory by burning one of Leslie's pantsuits.
Tropes
- Beneath the Mask: It is revealed that The Douche, real name Howard Tuttleman, actually graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in semiotics and wrote a thesis. He claims that "The Douche" is just his on-air radio persona, but his behavior heavily suggests that it's also become part of his actual personality.
- Be Yourself: April realizes imitating Leslie just isn't working, so she goes for this while running the town forum.
- Clothing Switch: April tries on one of Leslie's outfits. She feels extremely weird while wearing one.
- Fashion-Shop Fashion Show: April tries on several of Leslie's outfits in her attempt to be just like Leslie.
- The Food Poisoning Incident: Ben, Chris, and even the usually Made of Iron Ron get food poisoning from an appetizer of mini calzones. Tom avoided this by being the only one who didn't eat them.
- Lady in a Power Suit: Played for Laughs when April tries to invoke this by dressing up in one of Leslie's outfits.
- My Biological Clock Is Ticking: A variant - Ann decides she wants to be a mother and is willing to go at it alone since she hasn't really found a man she feels would be a great long-term partner for it.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Andy "accidentally" brings the wrong bag to a town forum, forcing April to lead it without Leslie's outfit.
- Running Gag: Ben's love of calzones and everyone else's hatred for them.
- Shout-Out: Ben proclaims "with God as my witness" that he's never eating calzones again after being "betrayed" by them.
