After leaving home following an argument with his father, Nick moves in with Jodie and begins looking for a job so that he can drop out of school. A record company executive takes an interest in Jodie and offers her a job with a rock band in Melbourne. Christina reproaches Marco for his constant unannounced and inconsiderate drop-ins, reminding him that she lives with Yola, not him.

The burden of her family responsibilities cause Chaka to behave erratically at school but attract the attention of her friends who rally to support her. Marco presses Christina to set a wedding date.

After learning about Phil's past relationship with a student, Christina decides they can have no future together and Phil makes the decision to resign. Jodie rallies her fellow students to save the school's music programme. Nick's father invites Jodie to stay at the Poulos home while her rowdy sister is in town.

Verbal and physical harassment over a misconstrued encounter with a young student causes Graham to have doubts about continuing to teach at Hartley. Chaka's father speaks to the students about oppression and violence. Chaka makes the difficult decision about whether to remain at Hartley or move north to Darwin with her family.

A phantom blader plays a cat-and-mouse game with Southgate after the acting principal bans inline skating at Hartley; tensions are palpable among members of the gang. Jack's grades earn him an invitation to attend a selective highschool.

After Rose announces that she is pregnant, she moves in at the Poulos's until her father, who does not want her to keep the baby, allows her to come back home. Stella teaches George to dance when he agrees to accompany her to a party. Jodie's producer tries to move Con out of the way as he makes his move on her.

Con is discovered to have drugs in his possession when the police raid a party at the warehouse. Rivers' relationship with Sam moves into dangerous territory. Nick makes his amateur boxing debut against Tony at the Shark Pool and wins by knockout. Con's friends try to prove his innocence.

Sam and Rivers continue their affair despite warnings from Yola and must eventually pay the price when their romance is made public. Nick agrees to let Leo Fine manage him as a professional boxer but he loses Jody when she calls an end to their relationship. Sam is forced to leave her job at Hartley.

Both Vic and Matt face ghosts from their past leaving an uncertainty about their future at Hartley

Matt sets up his uncle on a blind date and makes plans to move out. Danielle contemplates dropping out of school when she is asked to audition as a reporter. Yola questions Joe's commitment to their relationship when he starts spending time with an old girlfriend and her son. Con and Rose get closer as they work on a science project together.

Southgate encourages the students to join the surf club which is met with some resistance by some of them

Southgate has taken up a new job running his own school which leaves Rivers less than happy and Yola with a big decision to make

Charlie approaches Matt to ask for his help in becoming ""cool"". After the make-over, the girls's fawn all over the ""new"" Charlie, and a superficial Katerina quickly changes her mind about the former nerd, and despite her failed attempt to change his personality as well, the predestined couple finally hook up. A former bandmate from Declan's days in ""Rapscallion"" arrives with an offer to cut him in on her impending record deal. Unfortunately, their fateful partnership falls apart when it is revealed that she is only interested in using his songwriting talents to further her struggling career. Bolton helps Stassy through her first runway modelling session and the pair succeed in bringing down the house, quite literally in fact. Afterwards, Stassy admits to Bolton that she never wanted to model but was only looking for a way to earn money, and when her financial assistance comes through, she is able to give it up. Tom helps Allie finish her novel, entitled ""Clouds in the Water"", and annou