Leslie and Ben return from their Hawaiian honeymoon and present gifts to everyone in the office. Later on, Leslie tries some jokes out on her staff for her upcoming speech at the Pawnee Correspondents' Lunch. Every year the government and media in Pawnee get together to roast each other, and Leslie is determined to serve it up to the ruthless Pawnee Sun tabloid like never before. Ann is still determined to have a child and chooses Chris as her potential sperm donor. However, she struggles to gain the courage to speak to him about it, trying to ask Ron for advice.
Meanwhile, Ben begins his new job at the Sweetums Foundation. His first assignment is to pick a charity for the company to fund, but only has a day to do so and hundreds of charity applications to sift through, so he recruits Andy, April, and Tom to help him. However, Tom is more interested in Sweetums' fancy lunches and April cares little for charity or helping out Ben. Andy shows a good eye for it and picks out an after-school music program for at-risk children. Ben is impressed by Andy's choice and likes the idea. However, after Ben picks a different charity from Andy's, Andy falls into a depressed state. Still struggling to cope with failing the police exam, this latest knockback feels like another kick in the guts for Andy.
At the Correspondents' Lunch, Leslie confronts Pawnee Sun reporter Kim Terlando and boasts about how her speech is going to "whoop ass". Kim is called up on stage ahead of Leslie and presents her speech. It is clear to Leslie, however, that Kim has plagiarized Leslie's speech, stealing all her jokes and one-liners, leaving Leslie with nothing to present and shocked as to how Kim got ahold of her notes. Leslie initially accuses Jerry of losing his copy of her speech; it doesn't solve the problem, as she now needs to come up with completely new material in a matter of minutes. She ends up winging the speech in order to get off the stage as soon as possible. Elsewhere at the Luncheon, Ann finally blurts out to Chris that she wants him to be her sperm donor. She quickly leaves the vicinity in embarrassment, leaving Chris to ponder.
Back at City Hall, Leslie deduces that Kim must be hacking her emails. With the help of Donna, Leslie plans to foil Kim. At an ensuing press conference about the Pawnee Commons, Kim questions Leslie about a reported soil contaminant at Lot 48, naming the contaminant as "midi-chlorians". Leslie announces to those present at the conference that she and Donna contrived that email in order to catch Kim in the act, with "midi-chlorians" being a term from the Star Wars movies. This leaves Kim and her reputation in tatters and she is forced to flee the room.
Meanwhile, Chris confronts Ann and informs her that he's flattered she'd consider him to be the father of her child. He lets her know he'll need some time to think it over.
After getting called out by April for dismissing Andy's charity idea, Ben offers Andy a job working for him at the Sweetums Foundation as a part-time assistant to help him get back on his feet.
Tropes
- Bluff the Eavesdropper: Leslie and Donna expose Kim by making fake emails about midi-chlorians in the town soil and revealing they're fictional when Kim asks about them at their next press conference.
- Chosen Conception Partner: Ann decides she wants Chris to father her child.
- Funny Background Event: Leslie takes out a little baggie of what she claims is a "fertility tea" for Ann, before realizing that it's actually probably marijuana and tossing it into the garbage. In the background, April and Andy seem to be looking at the trash bin intently.
- Historical In-Joke: Ben's getting set up at his Sweetums job and April, Andy and Tom are helping to look for charities. At one point, Tom picks out a firm called "Cleansheet", which Ben looks at and realizes provides legal assistance for the KKK. The Ku Klux Klan actually held much power in Indiana during the 1920's, including having a KKK member as governor.
- I Like My X Like I Like My Y: Leslie bought Hawaiian coffee for Donna because she likes her coffee like she likes her men: rich, dark, and full-bodied.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: One of Leslie's: "There are so many wonderful, talented journalists here. Also here are some reporters from the Pawnee Sun."
- Unusual Euphemism: Ann tries to ask Ron how she can ask Chris to be her sperm donor by using the term "planting a ficus in her front yard".
- Vandalism Backfire: Leslie smashes her phone when she finds out the Pawnee Sun hacked her emails. Donna points out that that makes no sense... and then Jerry says it was his phone, anyway.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Whether Kim suffered any consequences for hacking Leslie's emails is unrevealed as she disappears after this episode.
- What the Hell, Hero?: April calls out Ben for rejecting Andy's charity idea, as Andy's already been feeling down in the dumps about failing the police academy exam and this has only made him feel worse.
