Welcome to Stars Hollow, Connecticut, a charming, small and slightly off-center town known for green lawns, clapboard houses -- and enough quirky characters to fill every hayride, parade and picnic for miles. It's here that we meet headstrong 32-year-old Lorelai Gilmore, who carves out a comfortable, warm, caffeine-filled life for herself and her equally willful teenage daughter, Rory. But when Rory's attention turns from dreams of private school and Harvard to thoughts of boys and adolescent self-reliance, single mom Lorelai begins noticing more of her own rebellious youth -- only 16 years ago -- in Rory.

Lorelai (Lauren Graham) has always done things her way. Raised in a world of money and cotillions, she ran a little wilder than the other girls did. Pregnant at age 16, she chose her own path, rather than letting her parents arrange her life for her. In true finishing-school style, she walked--elegantly and with flawless posture--right out the door. With fire and determination, she has worked her way up from maid to manager at the historic Independence Inn, all the while keeping sight of her fantasy to open her own inn with best friend Sookie St. James (Melissa McCarthy), the hotel's hopelessly clumsy culinary genius.

Straight-A student Rory (Alexis Bledel) copes with proving her worth at the exclusive and challenging Chilton Preparatory School, a daunting new world of scary girls with chips on their shoulders and boys with shiny cars who view dating as a sport . . . not exactly the safe haven of Stars Hollow High, which Rory's friend Lane (Keiko Agena) still attends. In stark and often humorous contrast with her very traditional and very Korean mother, Lane is a thoroughly American girl.

And then there's Dean (Jared Padalecki). When Rory met romantic Dean, the attraction hit her like a ton of bricks. These are new and thrilling sensations she's experiencing, and although her first instinct is to share them with her mom--her best friend and "big sister"--Rory's starting to keep some aspects of her life private from Lorelai . . . a disturbing development for both of them.

As Lorelai watches her daughter pull away and become her own woman, she must face some thought-provoking questions. How does she keep her status as the "cool" mom while firmly steering Rory through the same rough waters she once navigated? And perhaps more frightening, what will Lorelai's personal life be like when Rory moves out into the world after all these years? What happens when Lorelai suddenly finds the time and energy for a romantic relationship of her own?

All of these youthful uncertainties provide a much-needed respite from the emotional slings and arrows coming at Lorelai from the generation above, her old-fashioned parents Richard (Edward Herrmann) and Emily (Kelly Bishop). After spending 16 years avoiding any intimate contact with her old-money folks, Lorelai now finds herself financially indebted to them--and face-to-face with them on a weekly basis. Although she feels a slight pang of jealousy at the connection Richard is attempting to forge with Rory, Lorelai would just as soon prefer that Emily direct her stifling control issues elsewhere.

When all is said and done, Lorelai and Rory will remain close, no matter what the future brings. For just as change comes slowly to Stars Hollow, the age-old mother-daughter equation will endure through it all for the "Gilmore Girls."