Lee, Rosemary, Elizabeth, little Jack and Goldie are gathered for Goldie’s 1st birthday. They sing her happy birthday and blow out the candle on her cake, and little Jack gives Goldie her birthday present of a stuffed bear. Rosemary asks Elizabeth how she’s feeling ahead of her first day working as an employee of The Valley School Board. Elizabeth is looking on the bright side, as it means more resources and better opportunities for the students. Rosemary says it will be easy as pie, just as Lee enters with large slices of cake for Goldie and Jack.
Nathan joins Elizabeth and Jack as they walk past Nathan’s house; he offers to hold Elizabeth’s books for her. Nathan tells Elizabeth that Allie is worried about what the school’s merger with the board will mean. Elizabeth assures Nathan that Lucas said it’s just a technicality, and day-to-day operations will stay the same. Elizabeth has a meeting with Mr. Wilcox from the school board later that afternoon to find out more. Nathan asks if Elizabeth has any plans for lunch, and she says it depends on how long the meeting goes, but she can stop by the jail then if she’s free.
As Rosemary and Lee walk in town, she asks the newly appointed Mayor what’s on his agenda. Lee is excited about getting started and wants to get town leaders together to pick their brains. Rosemary suggests a dinner party at the saloon with champagne and hors d'oeuvres that’s black tie optional. To Lee’s displeasure, Rosemary suggests something more intimate where people can share their thoughts. She knows they’ll need the Governor there, so they have to wait until Lucas is back from his appearance in Capital City. She also mentions the matter of Lee’s appearance, which he laughs at. Rosemary says she will put together some clothing options for him.
At the schoolhouse, Elizabeth cleans the chalkboard when Mr. Thomas Higgins walks in from the school board. She asks what he’s doing here because she was expecting Mr. Wilcox. Mr. Higgins is the territorial superintendent and decided to come there himself when he heard it was Elizabeth’s school being affected. Elizabeth remembers him from the past when he made advances towards her; she rejected him and he then tried to have her removed as a teacher. He wrote a damaging letter about Elizabeth implying that she used nepotism and payoffs to get her teaching job. Mr. Higgins wants to go over formalities from the merger with Elizabeth and make sure that the school is up to date on teaching protocols and guidelines. He asks to meet with her later to walk her through everything, but she says she’s busy. As the students enter, he says he’ll stop by later.
Outside of The Valley Voice, Mike hangs a sign that says “Mayor’s Office.” Lee tells Joseph about the gathering at the saloon and asks him if he and Minnie would join them. Mike and Ned overhear this, and they say they’ll let Mei and Florence know about the gathering, too.
Rosemary enters Bill’s office with the baby carriage. Bill wonders how Goldie’s doing but when he sees the carriage, it’s filled instead with files on Clayton Pike. Bill notes that it would take her hours to go through this, but she’s already started. Bill hopes that they’ll grant their request for an interview with Pike, but Rosemary shows the interview rejection from Pike. He’s refusing to speak to anyone, and Bill and Rosemary feel like they’ve hit a brick wall.
At the café, Mike tells Mei about the gathering that Lee is holding at the saloon. Mei thinks it’s great that Mike’s family is around, and she reveals that she’s been thinking about her family a lot. Mei tells Mike how her mother was a wonderful cook, and Mike wishes he could hear embarrassing stories about Mei from her. He says he’ll ask her brother instead, but she says he’ll need to find him first. Her brother is in the Marines so he’s always somewhere new, but he writes occasionally. Mei says she and her brother loved their mom’s xiaolongbao, and Mike asks if she can make it for him sometime.
At the schoolhouse as the children leave for lunch, Mr. Higgins returns to see Elizabeth who is startled by him. He says her nerves must be running thin, what with the Governor ending their engagement. Elizabeth changes the subject to the school board protocols that she’s been looking over, and she has questions about standardized testing. Mr. Higgins wants to discuss all of this under more comfortable circumstances and asks Elizabeth to dinner that night. Elizabeth says that that wouldn’t be appropriate and they can discuss it here. Mr. Higgins is surprised to see Elizabeth putting their “old grudge” ahead of the students’ growth, and Elizabeth is shocked to hear him call her rejecting of his advances in the past an “old grudge.” He says he has to leave and asks her to reconsider his offer, saying he’ll be back tomorrow.
Elizabeth runs into Nathan who asks how the meeting with Mr. Wilcox went; she tells him Mr. Higgins came instead. Nathan asks if everything’s ok and if she can still do lunch. Elizabeth says she doesn’t have the time today, and he suggests they do another day. Nathan asks if everything is all right, and Elizabeth says everything’s fine.
At Lucas’s office, he and Henry speak with Grayson on the phone about reconsidering doing business with them. Grayson says that word around town is that Lucas will turn around and take all the profits. Henry swears that the Governor honors contracts and his operations are above board, but Grayson says that doing business with them just isn’t in the cards this time.
At Rosemary’s office, Lee tells her that he invited Minnie and Joseph to the salon they’re going to be holding. Rosemary says that there is a guest list with a handful of VIHVPs – Very Important Hope Valley People. Lee also relays that he invited Mike and Mei, who Rosemary adds to the list. Rosemary also shows Lee color swatches for a potential outfit for him to wear to this salon. When Molly and Florence arrive, Florence thanks Lee for the invite of her and Ned, and shares that she’s invited Molly as well. Florence will put a sign in the community board to let everyone know about the event they’re holding.
At the café, Joseph works on a letter back to his brother, Jacob. He tells Minnie he’s struggling to find the right words. Minnie asks Joseph what he wants from Jacob; Joseph wants them to go back to being best friends and he doesn’t know where it all went so wrong.
Rosemary comes over to Elizabeth’s at night, and Elizabeth tells her about Thomas Higgins being in town. Rosemary asks if he propositioned her again today, and Elizabeth says yes, she thinks so, but Higgins makes her question whether she’s right or not. Since it was Elizabeth’s word against his last time, she fears it would be the same this time. Rosemary thinks Elizabeth should tell Nathan, but Elizabeth worries that Higgins will find a way to not only punish her, but the students as well. Rosemary reminds Elizabeth that she is strong, brilliant, and resourceful and she knows how to manage this.
In town at the café, Lee tells Rosemary that the soiree she’s planned is a little too exclusive and doesn’t feel right. Lee wants the townspeople to be able to come talk with him about anything, any time they want, and he says he’s going to show them that they can.
At the schoolhouse, Mr. Higgins comes back to see Elizabeth. She tells him that the book’s lessons are a bit rigid and prescriptive, and he tells her it sounds like she wants to operate outside of the school board’s guidance. Elizabeth tells him that every child learns differently and she isn’t sure she can address specific student needs under these guidelines. One of her students learns best with visual aids, and Higgins suggests they belong in a remedial classroom. Higgins agrees that there could be room for some compromise; he suggests that if she scratches his back, he’ll scratch hers, so to speak. She tells him she doesn’t know what he means, but he says he can be flexible, if she can be, too. Just then, Anna walks in and after pleasantries, Higgins leaves. He tells Elizabeth to consider what he said.
At the saloon, Rosemary explains to Bill that she was looking through Pike’s records and found out that he briefly worked for a company Montague owns, proving their connection. Lucas returns and Rosemary wonders if they should tell him; Bill says to wait until they know more. Lucas and Edwin run into Mr. Higgins at the saloon, and Higgins asks for some of Lucas’s time later to discuss educational strategies.
At the mercantile, Mei looks for ingredients for her xiaolongbao, but they don’t have them in store. Florence says they can special order them for her. Mei also wonders if they have a wok, and Florence has one in the back collecting dust that she gives to Mei.
In town, Elizabeth sees Higgins talking to Anna; he walks into the saloon. Anna tells Elizabeth that Higgins asked her where she’d like to teach, as he’s visiting the college next month and can introduce her to some regional recruiters. Anna accepted his offer, and Elizabeth tells her to be careful. A taxi comes for Anna; she thanks Elizabeth for always being there for her and departs.
Inside the saloon, Elizabeth approaches Higgins at the bar and asks what he said to Anna. Elizbeth tells him that she knows the special interest he takes to students, and that he needs to leave Anna alone. He asks how she can bandy about such unfounded things, and she tells him these are not unfounded. He threatens to rename their school from the Jack Thornton School, now that they are under the school board’s jurisdiction.
Nathan sees Elizabeth pondering outside of the schoolhouse and approaches. When he asks what the matter is as she’s crying, she hugs him and tells him she doesn’t know what to do. Inside the schoolhouse, Elizabeth tells Nathan all about her time as a student in teacher’s college. Mr. Higgins was the director of the college then, and he took an interest in Elizabeth and her career. She was flattered as she felt like he thought she was special, but he started making advances on her. They were subtle at first, and then more overt. Nathan asks what Higgins did, and Elizabeth says he was persistent; she told him ‘no,’ so he made her life miserable. Now he’s threatening her job, the students, and she saw him with Anna. Nathan jumps up as he wants to set Higgins straight, and Elizabeth tells him he can’t. Elizabeth is scared because Higgins has all the power, but Nathan tells her that isn’t true, he just wants her to think that. Nathan tells Elizabeth that she’s so strong and she never runs from a challenge. She knows Nathan is right and that she has to do something to make sure he never does this again – to her, Anna, or anyone. Nathan asks what he can do to help.
At the saloon, Mike gives Higgins a note from Elizabeth. Higgins meets Elizabeth at the schoolhouse per her letter, and she mentions how he brought up discussing the school’s future over dinner. Elizabeth tells Mr. Higgins that she isn’t available for dinner with him tonight, or any night, as that would be highly inappropriate. He tells her that her attempts to embarrass him only embarrass her by her bringing up their relationship from ten years ago. She tells him that that was not a relationship. Higgins tells Elizabeth that other women have benefited from ‘being nice’ to him, and she should learn her place. She says that her place is certainly not at a dinner table with him, and he suggests she should consider another career. Nathan emerges from behind a door then, telling Higgins he’s just confessed to abuse of office. Higgins claims that this is entrapment and that he has connections.
At Lucas’s office, Higgins tells him and Edwin that Nathan and Elizabeth tricked him and are in cahoots against him. Higgins wants Lucas to call Mountie Command and have all of this dropped. However, Lucas spoke with Nathan and Elizabeth before Higgins went to the schoolhouse. Lucas made a few calls, and he gathered that Elizabeth isn’t the first accusation against him of this nature. Lucas tells Higgins that the jig is up, and he believes Elizabeth and every woman that has accused Higgins. He tells Lucas to tread carefully as he has a great deal of influence in Capital City. Lucas notes to Edwin that Higgins just threatened a public official, and Lucas says he’ll have Constable Grant add that to his list of infractions. Higgins will face a trial and until then, he is suspended.
Elizabeth sees Higgins outside of the saloon packing his bags in a car to leave. She tells him that he thought that since he was powerful, he could take advantage of her and other women. But Elizabeth realized that it’s because he’s weak. She swears to him on everything she holds dear that he will never have power to abuse another woman again. Higgins leaves, and Elizabeth and Nathan share a smile.
At the event at the hotel to Meet the Mayor, Molly talks to Lee about noise bylaws. Other townsfolk wait in line to speak with Lee about issues in town, and Elizabeth notes how mayorship really suites Lee. Rosemary says that every Wednesday at 4pm, rain or shine, people are invited to speak with Lee about what concerns them. Rosemary asks how Elizabeth’s feeling and tells her that she’s proud of her. Nathan is putting together a case for the Mounties to try Higgins, and Rosemary assures Elizabeth that The Valley Voice will be there to cover Higgins’s downfall every step of the way.
Mike joins Mei with flowers for dinner and Mei has the entire yard decorated and set up for them. Mei shows Mike what she made them – xiaolongbao soup dumplings and pan-fried noodles – and Mike can’t believe she did all this for him. Mei tells him it was fun making these dishes and she could feel her mom nearby. Mike tells Mei he wants to be a part of her whole life; she tells him that she wants that, too. They share a kiss. He brings out a pair of chopsticks to eat and tells her that he’s been practicing.
Outside of Elizabeth’s house, Nathan joins her for some company. Elizabeth apologizes for not telling him about everything going on sooner, but he tells her she has nothing to apologize for. He can’t imagine what she’s been going through. She tells Nathan that when Higgins first walked into her classroom, she felt trapped, like she did back in school. She wishes she could have stopped him back then, and Nathan reminds her that this isn’t her fault. He tells her she should be proud of herself, and that he’s proud of her. Elizabeth thanks Nathan for being there, and for being here. He tells her there’s nowhere else he’d rather be, and she leans on his shoulder as they look at the moon.