After Richard rejects Carlton Travis's offer of a truce, Travis kidnaps him and Angela. After Maggie hires an old friend to plan a birthday party for Richard's son, Angela brings a puppy as a gift to the party. Melissa spirits her son away for a picnic and becomes lost in the Australian bush. Dina's nurse gets her to sign Lance's half-million-dollar check over to her. Lance suspects that Frank Starr tampered with his car.

Lance's determination to clear himself and bring the real murderer to justice endangers his own life. Tony insists that Lance, who is very sick, check into a hospital. However, Lance, despite the poison coursing through his veins, brings Nurse Chadway to justice. Richard assists the daughter of an old friend and becomes involved in helping her save her ball team. Angela tries to destroy Melissa's new vineyards. Richard asks Maggie to marry him.

Upset with Richard's involvement with Liz and unable to make a decision about his proposal, Maggie leaves the Tuscany Valley to join Vicky in Monte Carlo. While a mysterious and eerie assassin figure stalks Liz, Maggie resents her reliance on Richard's protection. After Melissa gets even with Angela, Angela retaliates with a scheme that boomerangs. Maggie enters her new wine in a contest and wins second place. Angela discovers that Dan's father has a second family. After Lance rescues Emma from her would-be producers, she starts writing an advice column for The New Globe.

In spite of Emma's well-laid plans for a beautiful affair, fate makes a travesty of Maggie and Richard's wedding day. After Maggie finds the perfect house, Richard agrees to have the wedding in the garden. Tempers erupt when Eric creates an unpleasant situation at Richard's bachelor party. When Melissa shows up at Maggie's bridal shower, the two finally reconcile. While Eric is able to perform an errand for Richard that could affect Maggie's future, Carly runs an errand for Angela, which does affect Melissa's future. Lance and Tony fight over Shannon.

Shortly after Richard carries Maggie across the threshold of their new home, he is perturbed by the news that Eric and Vickie have left for Europe and that someone has broken into his wall safe. Also, the key to his Swiss bank safe-deposit box has been copied in wax. In Geneva, Eric and Vickie put their plan into motion, getting a wax mold of the key that will admit them to the bank vault. Melissa will not warm up to her uncle Frank and Angela frankly doesn't know why he even bothers trying to win her over. Frank Agretti then tells Angela that he's not sure what his heirloom is, but he has to pass it on before he dies. Angela learns he has six months to two years to live. To help Emma figure out why Curtis Estabrook was murdered, Lance goes to Las Vegas to speak with George Wescott, a man who tells him about John Remick's connection to the murder. Maggie is shocked to hear him report that whatever Curtis knew about Remick resulted in his death. Also, Richard is involved in this somehow

Maggie recovers from her drunken fall and decides to throw away all of the alcohol in the house so she won't be tempted to drink again. Lance continues to investigate Curtis's allegations about Richard's underworld activity. Richard finds him rifling through Emma's office at the New Globe and warns him to stay away from Maggie. Lance tries in vain to enlist Maggie's support, but she denies Lance's accusations and tells him to stop before anyone else gets hurt. Frank and Melissa ride out to Hobart, California using Frank's antiquated map. Melissa accuses him of selfish motives, but when Frank raises his gun and shoots a rattler lying close to her, Melissa is embarrassed into silence. Frank tells her that he is dying and has no desire of cheating her out of her legacy. When they get to Hobart, all they find are abandoned buildings from an old mining community. On further inspection of a shack, Melissa falls through the crumbling flooring into a hole below. Frank attempts to rescue Meliss

The Justice Department is hardly all ears to Lance's plea for help in nailing Richard. An associate of the department, one Kathryn Anderson, offers her help. She makes an appointment to meet him with a lead on Richard. Lance shows up first and narrowly misses getting hit by a car. Kathryn is an employee of the thirteen. Rosemont instructs her on how to handle Lance Cumson. If she cannot scare Lance off Richard's case, Rosemont suggests that she may have to kill him. Angela takes Michael out to the toy store, but soon she discovers he's missing. An hour passes and Maggie appears. She berates Angela for losing her son. The store manager finds Michael in a back room; Garth has been hiding him in order to discredit Angela. Maggie leaves with Michael and Angela suspects foul play. Angela arrives home to find herself in the midst of a surprise party thrown by Carly, who has managed to invite most of Tuscany and then some. Angela is delighted and moved by her gesture, but the party mood chang