Due to budget cuts, the high school senior prom has gotten cancelled. Obviously, Leslie volunteers the Parks and Rec department to throw a prom that looks like a million bucks and costs exactly the budget, which is "zero." Leslie calls a meeting and delegates all of the employees to tasks, which includes making Ben and Tom co-DJs. "I hope the that high school auditorium is big enough... because I'm bringing 10,000 Maniacs," Ben quips. The president of the senior class, Alison, is at the meeting and is given the task of figuring out a theme and decorating. Alison already has a crazy big binder ready with ideas. Leslie immediately takes the girl under her wing and offers her a summer internship. Later, in the hallway, Leslie finds out that Ron knows Alison as her father owns his favorite hardware store. Ron tells Alison that she shouldn't be an intern for the government because it's a non-paying, thankless job. He offers to get her a job at a saw mill, where she can get paid. Andy is super psyched about re-living prom. April, meanwhile, says to Andy, "Prom is nothing but a huge party full of smiling, dancing people enjoying themselves. It's literally my worst nightmare."

All of the Parks and Rec employees are attending the prom. Andy picks April up in a prom limo and we find out her "dad" is a dog wearing a tux. "Say goodbye to your father," April's 'mom' says. "Goodnight, sir," Andy says to tux-wearing-dog. Alison helps Leslie set up the balloon drop for the prom, but then leaves for a mere $40 to help Ron. Leslie and Ron vow to have their way. Alison, naturally, begins to feel uncomfortable being at the center of Ron and Leslie's power struggle.

Meanwhile, nobody is dancing or liking or even recognizes the music that Tom has carefully curated based on his crazy criteria that makes a song a "banger." Tom freaks out, thinking that he no longer knows what is cool. When he refuses to play any songs, Ben decides to take over with his "classic rock." Everyone starts dancing, and a student comes up to the DJ booth and says he likes the music. "I only listen to CDs, it's how music like this should be heard," high school student guy says. "But it's not even auto-tuned," Tom whines in desperation.

Ron and Leslie eventually end up in the principal's office, where the principal tells them to stop the quarrel. They both promise to stop, but of course, Leslie does something crazy next, as in going on stage at prom and announcing that Alison has won the summer internship position. Alison tells her that she doesn't want it.

Ron sits Leslie down and questions her about why she is so interested in having Alison do an internship at the Parks and Rec department. Leslie admits that she is thinking about leaving Pawnee for Chicago to further her political career. She wants to make sure that the city has someone as her successor (Alison) so she knows it will be taken care of when she leaves. Ron tells her that the city was running fine before she started running the Parks and Recreation department, and that it will continue to run after she leaves. Instead, she should just enjoy her time here before she leaves Pawnee.