Jake and Jo see the Carters arrive at the cabin with Emily and the baby. While Jake is calling the police, Jo disobeys his wishes and confronts the Carters. Mr. Carter shoots her in the back. Mrs. Carter sneaks into Jo's hospital room in the middle of the night, and threatens to kill Austin if she does not receive custody. The judge nullifies the previous custody arrangement, and agrees with Jo's suggestion that the baby be given up for adoption. Amanda is fired after testing positive for illegal drug use. Amanda and Matt discover that Peter prescribed pills for Amanda that contained the active ingredient in marijuana. Although Amanda has no proof, Peter believes her bluff. He knocks her out and plans to kill her on the operating table. Michael pulls the scalpel away and breaks Peter's nose. Michael and Amanda interrupt a D&D meeting where Caitlin is to be appointed president, and discredit her. Alison stops Terry from drinking after he loses a playoff game. He expresses his gratitude

Rikki commits acts of vandalism against Jo, Jane and Jake, who believe that Syd is responsible for the crimes. The isolated Sydney is forced to turn to Martin's cult for comfort. The visiting Meredith admits that she has never slept with a man because of the trauma of the childhood abuse. She tries to seduce Billy. The new chief-of-staff institutes mandatory psychological testing for the staff. Kimberly's test proves that she is extremely disturbed and highly dangerous. She has some men on the street assault test coordinator Matt, then changes her results while he is out of commission. John Rawlings, the police detective investigating the case, befriends Matt. Billy is concerned by Amanda's deteriorating health, and asks Michael to check her out. Amanda is horrified when tests reveal that she has Hodgkin's Disease.

Kimberly comes home to discover that Amanda has been staying at her house. Amanda begins to recover from her illness, and asks Brooke to help her undermine Alison. Kimberly tries to use the $100,000 settlement from the city to keep Michael away from Amanda. He accepts her offer, but later files for divorce. Kimberly overdoses on pills, and Michael doesn't try to revive her. Alison turns into a tyrant at the office and alienates Jo during a photo shoot. Alison gives Brooke a full-time job after she convinces her father to let them use his house for a shoot. Brooke reveals that she is engaged, but later comes on to Billy in a restaurant bathroom. Jess unexpectedly arrives in Los Angeles. Jake gives him a job and a place to stay. Sydney suspects that Jess is using his brother.

Jake throws Jess out of his apartment, and assaults him after his brother taunts him about Jo. Jess hires a thug to stage a robbery at Shooters and shoot Jake. Brooke convinces her father, Hayley, to offer Alison a job in Hong Kong. Billy follows Brooke's advice and persuades Alison to take the job. Alison writes a note to Billy in which she professes her love, but Brooke refuses to give it to him. Matt learns that Paul is married, but continues the relationship when Paul says that he needs Matt's help to come out. Paul's wife, Carol, threatens Matt's life. One of the alleged drug dealers reveals to Sydney that he is actually an FBI agent. He talks her into resigning so that she won't be implicated when the feds raid the design firm. Sydney is stunned to discover that the entire fiasco was a set-up engineered by Jane to oust her from the business. Kimberly seeks Amanda's friendship, then tricks her into believing that Michael is stalking her.