Manhattan Municipal Court Judge Harold T. Stone did something that he haven't done since high school: sat outside the home of the girl of his dreams (that is, until her father chased him with a baseball bat off his property). While he sat outside his public defender's, Billie Young's, apartment, Harry played with Mr. Grimsky's, Billie's neighbor, cat, while waiting for the owner to retrieve his incontinent pet. To be honest with himself, Harry wasn't waiting for Mr. Grimsky; he was deciding whether or not to wake Billie at this time of the night.
"Why did I leave the first time?" he asked himself, or rather, the cat, whom he dubbed Mr. Stinky, for the umpteenth time. Mr. Stinky gave him a nonchalant look and yawned.
After Harry forced himself to leave Billie's apartment an hour before, he sat in his car, going over the events of his birthday. That morning, after treating himself to a birthday breakfast at his favorite diner, Harry took a stroll in the park, visited a record store to find some Big Band classics, picked up his spare judicial robe from the dry cleaners, and relaxed on the couch as he listened to his idol, Mel Torme, croon. As he scat with the singer, his mind wander to the feminine form of a feisty blonde from his courtroom. Big blue eyes, great smile, nice legs...
Ever since the first moment that Harry met Billie, the new public defender fascinated him from her sharp-witted comebacks and lively personality to her dedication to her clients and compassion (especially when she spent overnight in jail for refusing to give the location of her client's alleged cat to a company who owned the animal). The attraction between them has been building ever since then, but they have been dancing around the issue. Perhaps it was time that they stop dancing.
Yet, his reverie became short-lived as he remembered that Billie was his colleague and he was her superior at work. She was only his fantasy, and he was going to spend another birthday alone. But why should he spend another birthday alone? The closest he had to a relationship was with the rock star Jessica Black, but her fanfare made it impossible for anything more to come from it. And Lana? She was engaged, and Harry didn't want to be that guy who would break up an engagement, no matter how attractive she was to him.
Then, Harry had an idea. Instead of spending another birthday alone, why not invite Billie to spend it with him over drinks? Yet, if he invited her, it would look unprofessional to their co-workers, and could be used as a tool by the sour Judge Willard to finally remove Harry from the bench. Therefore, to hide suspicion, he would invite the others, too. Afterwards, he would make an excuse for Billie to stay behind, and take the rest from there.
However, Harry's plan for a perfect birthday "celebration" backfired. First, the celebration at Papa Jack's diner went up in smoke when they were served a half-eaten pumpkin pie by a surly host, followed by Bull giving a depressing monologue of suffering children and wretched homeless people, causing everyone to abandon Harry at the table. But Billie stayed behind with him. Of course, it took Harry's pitiful whistling rendition of "Happy Birthday" to make her finally suggest that they celebrate somewhere else. Yet, it took the invasive prodding of Dennis, the surly host, to suggest that they go to Billie's place for the evening, and to come back for breakfast at six in the morning.
However, like at the diner, the evening that he wanted with Billie took a turn for the worse again when a bumbling burglar interrupted their interlude, tied them up, and then came back when the would-be couple tried to give in to their feelings again (although tied up). After Harry got the burglar to finally turn himself in to the cops, Harry and Billie resigned to not take their relationship a step further.
And now, he regretted leaving. But he was back, and an hour after Billie yelled at another "visitor" to go away, Harry decided that he was going to pursue what he wanted from the beginning: Billie Young. So, he put down Mr. Stinky, and with a sigh of confidence, knocked on the door again.