In an attempt to beautify her town, Leslie Knope takes on the seemingly simple job of helping turn an abandoned construction pit into a park.

Leslie gets a newspaper reporter to do a story about her and the park idea, but becomes upset when she finds out that the reporter slept with Mark.

Leslie tries to infiltrate the boys' club of politics by crashing an after-work gathering at the town hall. Trying to fit in, she opens a gift basket breaking the local government ethics, and then is called before an ethics committee.

At a banquet honouring her mother, Leslie tries to convince a local zoning official to support her park project. But sensing resistance, Lesie resorts to blackmail. Meanwhile, Tom and Mark ditch the festivities to hit the bars.

Leslie doesn't realize that a dinner with a much older man from the zoning commission is actually a date set up by her mom. Andy gets his cast taken off, but Ann gets mad when she finds out it could have been off two weeks ago.