Season Two (1995-1996)

Main Article: Friends (Season 2)

Unaware that Rachel is interested in him, Ross starts a relationship with Julie, whom he met in China. Rachel does not take a liking to Julie because she is jealous of her involvement with Ross. While drunk, Rachel leaves a message on Ross' answering machine telling him that she's over him. Ross hears the message and becomes confused over Rachel's feelings, and in turn, his own. Not long after Rachel's revealation the pair give in to their feelings and kiss. Ross is unable to choose between Rachel and Julie and decides to make a pro and con list of both women. He decides he loves Rachel and breaks up with Julie. Unfortunately, Rachel discovers the list, becomes angry at the con's written about her and rejects Ross. However, the friends eventually watch a video from Rachel and Monica's prom where it seems Rachel's prom date, Chip, has stood her up. The teenage Ross decides he will take her. While Ross is coming down the stairs in a tuxedo, Rachel runs off with Chip, who has arrived late. Ross looks distraught. Back in the present day, Rachel, overwhelmed by the gesture, kisses Ross and they start dating.

Joey gets an acting job as Dr. Drake Ramoray on the soap Days of our Lives and earns enough money to move into his own apartment, leaving Chandler behind. Left on his own, Chandler gets a new roommate, Eddie, who is insane. When Joey states in an interview that he writes his own lines, the show's writers kill off his character by making him fall down an elevator shaft. With no income, Joey moves back into Chandler's apartment, helping Chandler to get rid of the psychotic Eddie.

Whilst trying to find her birth father, Phoebe finds out she has a half brother named Frank Jr.

Monica dates Richard Burke (guest star Tom Selleck, an ophthalmologist and a friend of her parents, who is twenty-one years older than she is, but they break up when Richard tells her he does not want to have children. When Chandler meets the woman he's been talking to online he discovers to his great surprise it is his ex, Janice. The season culminates in them engaging in a kiss.

Season Three (1996-1997)

Rachel quits her job at Central Perk to find a job in fashion, only to find that her job is making coffee at the fashion label, so she takes a job at Bloomingdale's offered to her by a stranger, Mark. Ross becomes convinced that her new co-worker wants to date her and becomes increasingly jealous. Tension between Ross and Rachel culminates on their anniversary and Rachel suggests they take "a break". After hearing Rachel's co-worker in the background during a phone call, Ross assumes she is now with him. Depressed and under the influence of alcohol, he sleeps with another woman (Chloe the "hot copy girl"). When Rachel indicates that she still wants Ross, he tries to resume their relationship without telling her about his fling but she finds out from Gunther and, after a long emotional night (throughout which the rest of the gang are stuck in Monica's room), they break up.

Whilst working at a fifties diner, Monica is asked out by a customer named Pete, who, unbeknown to Monica, is a millionaire. Eventually, she agrees to go on a date with him. Monica avoids kissing him for a while because she doesn't feel attracted to him, but after they kiss she instantly finds him attractive. Eventually, Pete becomes obsessed with becoming the Ultimate Fighting Champion, but gets severely injured in every fight and says he won't stop fighting until he wins. Monica can't stand to see him keep hurting himself, so they break up.

Chandler breaks up with Janice, and Joey buys a chick as a pet. Joey and Chandler soon begin to fight over the chick as if they were married. Chandler decides to take it back but the shop won't take it so he goes to a shelter where he learns that they kill the animals that can't find homes. He takes the chick back home along with a duck. Joey's acting career continues to go badly. Phoebe finds a woman, also named Phoebe, who knew her parents. She invites the group to go with her to the beach and meet her.

Meanwhile, Phoebe has set Ross up on a blind date with an old friend Bonnie, whom Rachel thought was bald when she agreed it was okay for Ross to date her. Rachel becomes upset when Ross starts dating Bonnie, who unexpectedly comes with them to the beach. Rachel persuades Bonnie to shave her head again with the aim of making Ross less attracted to her. Ross and Rachel argue about this and realise they still have feelings for one another. Meanwhile, it is revealed that the older Phoebe is Phoebe's birth mother. The season ends with Ross having to decide between Rachel and Bonnie.

Season Four (1997-1998)

Ross decides to get back together with Rachel and breaks up with Bonnie. However, Rachel wants him to take full responsibility for "cheating" on her, whereas Ross insists that they were on a break. Unable to agree on whether or not Ross cheated, they break up again. Throughout most of the season the pair frequently bicker and take swipes at one another. After Phoebe learns the older Phoebe is her real mother, she tells her twin sister, Ursula, who knew all along because she had their "mother's" suicide note, which she had not shared with Phoebe. Phoebe agrees to be a surrogate mother for her half-brother Frank and his wife Alice (who was his home economics teacher). Luckily, after having fertility treatment she becomes pregnant. Though to everybody's suprise, she is pregnant with triplets.

Joey begins dating an actress, Kathy, but Chandler likes her as well. Joey and Kathy break up after Kathy kisses Chandler. Joey is angry, but forgives Chandler when he sees that Chandler and Kathy genuinely love each other. Chandler suspects that Kathy is sleeping with a fellow cast member after watching one of her plays. He then proceeds to confront and accuse her. She is insulted and later does sleep with the cast member, so she and Chandler break up.

Monica and Rachel switch apartments with Joey and Chandler after losing a bet. The girls hate their new apartment, and so try to convince Joey and Chandler to switch apartments in exchange for season passes to the Knicks. Instead, they agree to an all or nothing bet. The guys win, but while they're at the game, the girls switch the apartments back. They negotiate with the angry Joey and Chandler by offering them an opportunity to watch Monica and Rachel kiss for one minute, thus winning back their apartment.

Rachel's British boss asks her to take his niece Emily to the theatre; however, Ross ends up taking her, as Rachel is more interested in getting a date with a good looking customer. Ross and Emily hit it off and they quickly get engaged. The group travels to London for the wedding, except Phoebe, who is in her last trimester, and Rachel, who doesn't want to see Ross get married. At the wedding rehearsal dinner, Monica becomes depressed because she is mistaken as Ross' mum, and the fact that she wasn't married. Chandler comforts her and they unexpectedly end up sleeping together. Rachel realises that she still loves Ross and goes to London to tell him. When she gets there, she sees him with Emily and decides it would not be right to ruin the wedding. The wedding goes ahead, but comes to an abrupt halt when Ross says "I, Ross, take thee, Rachel" instead of Emily. The season ends with the preacher asking whether to continue the ceremony.

Season Six (1999-2000)

When Chandler and Monica see Ross and Rachel at the chapel they decide not to get married. After finding out about their drunken mistake, Ross and Rachel agree to get an annulment so Ross doesn't have to get a third divorce, but he decides it is still a failed marriage. He lies to Rachel, telling her he has had the marriage annulled when he actually has not. Rachel finds out and forces Ross to go ahead with the annulment, but they are ineligible for one and file for divorce. Ross gets a new job teaching palaeontology at New York University. During season six Ross dates Rachel's sister Jill (guest star Reese Witherspoon) and afterwards one of his students named Elizabeth.

Chandler and Monica move in together, and Rachel moves in with Phoebe. Joey gets a female roommate, Janine (guest star Elle MacPherson, and they start dating, after a slow start. When Janine reveals she does not like Chandler and Monica, Joey breaks up with her. Out of a job and desperate for money, Joey gets a job at Central Perk and tries out other acting gigs until he lands the lead role in Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E., supposedly permanent, but actually short-lived.

A fire started by Rachel's hair straighteners ruins Phoebe and Rachel's apartment. Rachel moves in with Chandler and Monica, and Phoebe moves in with Joey. They eventually swap because they find out the fire was Rachel's fault, the two girls agree that Phoebe deserves the better apartment (Monica and Chandler's), so Rachel lives with Joey instead. However, Rachel ends up loving living with Joey, and when Phoebe offers to trade back she refuses. Bruce Willis makes a three episode cameo appearance as Elizabeth's father. He threatens to have Ross fired from his job at the university by revealing Ross' secret, and forbidden, relationship. Later he becomes Rachel's boyfriend but she dumps him after he is revealed to be much more emotional than she first thought.

Towards the end of the season, Chandler decides to propose to Monica, but wants it to be a surprise. He worries that she suspects something so he creates a plan to throw her off by pretending he is against marriage and everything to do with it. It seems to be working and Chandler is about to propose but things don't go smoothly as Monica's ex-boyfriend Richard turns up and announces to her that he is still in love with her. Richard offers her marriage and children and everything she's ever wanted. In a dramatic climax, Monica is torn between Chandler and Richard – a more mature relationship than Chandler is seemingly willing to give her – and doesn't know what to do. When Chandler finds out, he gets angry and distressed and tries to confront Richard, who finally sees that Chandler is infact in love with her, and backs down. Meanwhile Joey tells Monica about Chandler's plan. When Chandler arrives, however, Joey tells him that Monica didn't believe it was all a plan and was so upset that she left and told him not to call her. Chandler is heartbroken and goes into his apartment, only to find the lights out, candles everywhere, and Monica in the middle of the floor waiting to propose. In a tearful but romantic encounter, Chandler and Monica finally become engaged.

Season Seven (2000-2001)

Monica and Chandler begin planning their wedding. Rachel gets a promotion in Ralph Lauren and hires an assistant, Tag, whom she begins dating after she tells him her true feelings at Thanksgiving at Monica's. Rachel and Tag later break up when Rachel turns 30 and she feels she should be in a more serious relationship since Tag is significantly younger and less mature than her.

Phoebe's apartment is repaired, but has been converted back into a one bedroom apartment after a wall that Phoebe's grandmother had put up to divide it into a two bedroom apartment is torn down, and Rachel continues to live with Joey.

Joey's new show Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E. is cancelled but he is able to return to Days of Our Lives when his character, Dr. Drake Ramoray, gets a new brain from a character named Jessica Lockheart (guest star Susan Sarandon).

The night before his wedding, Chandler gets cold feet and runs away. While he is gone, Phoebe and Rachel find a pregnancy testing kit in Monica's bathroom, and Phoebe assumes Monica is pregnant. Rachel makes Phoebe promise to not tell anyone what they have found. Phoebe and Ross find Chandler at his office, while Rachel keeps Monica distracted, and persuade him to come back, but Chandler overhears Phoebe and Rachel talking about Monica's pregnancy and disappears again. He quickly returns without the help of Ross and Joey, and decides that a baby would not be a bad thing. Chandler and Monica get married with Joey as the minister, courtesy of an internet church, but when Chandler tells Monica he knows about the baby, she says she is not pregnant, and it was not her pregnancy test that they found. As Phoebe tells Rachel how excited she is about Monica's pregnancy, Rachel slowly agrees, looking very emotional. The camera then zooms in on her and she takes a deep breath. The audience is left with the question of whether Rachel could be pregnant.

Season Eight (2001-2002)

Rachel confirms she is pregnant but doesn't tell anyone who the father is. Unfortunately for her, Joey finds a sweater that the baby's father left at his apartment. Phoebe suspects that it is Tag's sweater but Ross finds it and says, "Hey, my sweater!". After Rachel tells Ross he is the father, they tell everyone that they secretly slept together about a month before Chandler and Monica's wedding. After Ross meets Mona, a guest at Monica and Chandler's wedding, he goes out with her for a few months, but they break up because of complications arising from his impending fatherhood of Rachel's child.

As Rachel and Joey continue living together, Joey starts to develop feelings for her. However, sensing that Ross is missing out on his fatherly duties, Joey reluctantly suggests that Rachel move in with Ross, and she does so. Joey later reveals his feelings to Rachel, who gently lets him down.

After a passionate kiss with Ross to try to induce labour, because she is overdue, Rachel goes into labour, and while in the hospital, Ross' mother approaches him with a ring to give to Rachel. Ross keeps the ring in his coat pocket, even though he does not want to propose to Rachel. Rachel remains in labour for about 21 hours and shares her room with five different women, including Janice, Chandler's ex girlfriend, who all have their babies before her. Rachel eventually gives birth to their daughter, Emma. Joey finds the engagement ring after it falls out of Ross' coat, and bends down to pick it up. Rachel, seeing Joey on one knee with an engagement ring, presumes that he is proposing to her, and says "okay". Monica and Chandler decide to have a baby. Incidentally, this is the season that won Friends an Emmy for Best Comedy Show.

Season Nine (2002-2003)

Rachel finds out that Joey was not proposing to her, but neither was Ross. After Ross doesn't pass on a message to Rachel from a potential date, the two realise that having a child and living together while not actually in a relationship is too complicated and Rachel decides therefore to move back in with Joey, and takes Emma with her. Chandler's job requires him to be in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Monica decides not to go after she is offered her dream job in New York. He puts up with this for a while, but he begins to consider quitting when he finds he has to work in Tulsa over Christmas. When a female associate, Wendy (Selma Blair), a runner up Ms. Oklahoma, comes on to him over Christmas in Tulsa, he quits and starts a new job in advertising. After trying all season to get pregnant to no avail, fertility tests prove that Chandler and Monica cannot conceive a baby, so they decide to adopt. Phoebe starts dating Mike Hannigan, (Paul Rudd) after being set up on a double date by Joey, who lied to Phoebe about knowing someone called Mike, leaving him with no other option but to find a random 'Mike' in Central Perk. Phoebe and Mike date and eventually move in together, but when he tells Phoebe he does not want to get married, they break up. Rachel has a dream about Joey and develops a crush on him.

The group goes to Barbados because Ross is giving a key-note speech there. Phoebe takes her old boyfriend David (Hank Azaria), whom she met in Season One and with whom she has been in love with since meeting him, and Joey takes his girlfriend, Charlie, Ross' new colleague and a person for whom Ross has feelings. Chandler accidentally gives David some bad advice about dating and David decides to propose to Phoebe. Monica finds out, and calls Mike to tell him to get back together with Phoebe. Mike comes to Barbados and proposes to Phoebe. She turns him down, but, knowing their relationship has a future, agrees to take him back, leaving David.

Joey and Charlie break up realising they have little in common. Joey learns Rachel likes him, but refuses her advances because he feels he would be betraying Ross. However, when Joey sees Charlie and Ross kissing he changes his mind and kisses Rachel in the final scene of the season.

Season Ten (2003-2004)

The final season.

Joey and Rachel's relationship lasts only three episodes. Having been platonic for so long, they feel uncomfortable taking their relationship further. Charlie goes back to an old boyfriend and Mike and Phoebe get married on the street right outside Central Perk on a cold, snowy day, after facing delays and cancellations from various people crucial to their wedding.

Chandler and Monica apply to adopt the baby of a pregnant young woman named Erica and decide to move out of their apartment to a house in the suburbs of New York, something not known to the rest of the friends, until Rachel and Phoebe see Chandler with another woman, and decide to confront the couple about it. Erica gives birth to twins, a boy and a girl, who are named Jack (after Monica's dad) and Erica (after the mother). Despite the fact Erica was expecting twins comes as a suprise to the couple they are happy with the outcome.

Rachel is offered a job in Paris with Louis Vuitton, with help from a previous colleague, Mark (from Season Three). Rachel is tied between staying in New York when Ralph Lauren offers her her job back with a pay raise and moving to France. She decides to accept the job offer in Paris and take Emma with her. The group holds a farewell party for her and she says goodbye to each of them in turn, except Ross. He is upset about this until Rachel tells him it was too hard to say goodbye to him. The dramatic confrontation culminates in them sleeping together.

In the final episode, Ross realises that he still loves Rachel and, after she leaves for Paris, goes after her, driven by a reckless Phoebe to get to the airport before her flight leaves. Meanwhile, Joey buys Chandler a new chick and duck; (the other two are revealed to have died earlier in the series, unbeknowst to Joey who thinks they went to live on a farm). The chick and duck get stuck in the foosball table, purchased by Joey and Chandler after their dining table broke in a very first season. They know they have to break it open but neither of them have the heart to do it – it was the first item that Chandler and Joey had bought together. Finally, Monica destroys it and the chick and duck are recovered. They decide to keep the birds at Joey's since animals aren't the most hygenic things to have around newborn babies.

Ross finds Rachel and tells her that he is in love with her and begs her not to go; however, she is overwhelmed by this new information on top of everything else and leaves. Ross was sure she would stay and is crushed. When he gets back to his apartment, he finds a message from Rachel on his answering machine, telling him she still loves him. She tries to get off the plane but is not allowed to leave. Ross listens intently as Rachel tries to explain to the flight attendant that she needs to get off the plane but the message ends before he can tell whether or not she got off. Ross frantically runs to the answering machine pressing buttons and screaming "Did she get off the plane?!" Suddenly a voice from behind Ross says "I got off the plane" and he turns to see Rachel at the door of his apartment. They kiss and assure each other that this is the real thing and they want to be together.

The finale ends with Chandler and Monica moving out of their apartment with their new twins, Mike and Phoebe deciding to have kids and Ross and Rachel becoming a family with Emma. As they look around their apartment one last time, Chandler and Monica remember that they need to leave their keys on the desk. One by one, each friend follows with his or her own key. Rachel then suggests that they all go for one last cup of coffee before Monica and Chandler move, and Chandler responds with the sarcastic last word of the show: "Where?".