Extended Summary:

Lorelai and Rory live in a small, coastal California town called Celestial Cove (like Stars Hollow, lol). Lorelai did run to Stars Hollow first. She got a job at the Independence Inn, she made friends with Sookie (they're pen pals now), and Mia took her under her wing. However, when Mia moved to Santa Barbara (sooner than she did in the show), it was to open an inn on the California coast; Lorelai, worried that her parents would eventually try to gain custody of Rory, joined Mia and worked her way up to managing the inn in California (instead of the Independence Inn). Three years ago, Mia moved back to Stars Hollow, occupying Lorelai's home in the show, because the current manager at the Independence Inn got pregnant and quit her job to stay home with her child. Rory's about to graduate high school; when she does, she'll still go to Yale, and Emily and Richard offer to pay, but only if they get to develop a relationship with their daughter and granddaughter. Meanwhile, Mia has decided she wants to move back to California. She asks Lorelai if she'd be interested in transferring to the managerial position for the Independence Inn; Lorelai, wanting to be closer to Rory for the next four years, accepts. Mia sells her house to Lorelai and Rory, and the Gilmore girls plan to move there three weeks before school starts. Until then, they'll be hanging around the town.

Suddenly, Jess shows up, and mayhem ensues. Rory's secure relationship with Sean, surfer boy extraordinaire, begins to wobble under the weight of the impending move and her obvious connection with Jess. Luke Danes, diner owner from Stars Hollow, comes to Celestial Cove looking for his disappearing nephew and reconnects with Lorelai.

Major changes for the purposes of this story: Besides the obvious coast-change, Jimmy showed up earlier, Jess dropped out of school a few months before his senior year was over, and Dave attended Stars Hollow High (I can't remember where he actually came from in the show) and left for college in California earlier for a summer program. He and Lane decided that they should break up before he left. April just…doesn't exist. Also, it takes place in fairly modern times (I don't think I mention any years specifically, but I may reference some current TV shows, music, books, and technology).