CeCe refuses to be seen with Schmidt, so she demands that they carry on their relationship secretly and spontaneously. Schmidt doesn't like this and it brings up his control issues. Jess only makes matters worse when she wants to bring a piece of vintage furniture into the loft. Jess attempts to help Schmidt become more relaxed but her plan backfires when Schmidt takes it too far and stops doing all the work around the apartment. The apartment quickly falls apart. Desperately, the gang bands together to ask Schmidt to return to his old self. He does.

Meanwhile, Nick lost hundreds of dollars to Winston in a poker game and refuses to pay up. The feud between the two devolves into a sibling rivalry until Schmidt's problem forces them to come to an agreement.