Paula Todd has a reunion with her long-lost sister, Stephanie, a workaholic antique dealer, and her husband, Preston Dwyer. Paula and Stephanie's meeting is emotional, but Stephanie keeps busy and leaves Paula and Preston together. After Preston reveals to Paula that Stephanie has become frigid, he makes a pass at Paula. Stephanie becomes furious, but Preston explains his predicament to his wife and declares his love for her. Stephanie decides to seek help, and the Dwyers embark on a second honeymoon. The hotel staff is excited that Mrs. Cabot will be interviewed by Alexander Heath for a magazine cover story. After various blunders by the well-meaning staff, Heath forsakes the ""quiet elegance"" theme of his article and praises the staff's unpretentious human qualities instead. When Owen Lloyd recruits a naïve teenager, Kelly Braden, into prostitution, Peter asks a retired madam, Rita LeLaine, to confront Lloyd and pretend the area is her territory. Unintimidated, Lloyd sets Kelly up wit

Just as Christine and Peter celebrate their now open romance, they soon face a takeover attempt on the hotel by the Cabot family's ruthless financier, Charles Cabot. As the battle over the hotel intensifies, Christine and Peter depend on each other for love and support. Charles digs up whatever dirt he can find on Peter and teams up with Jessica Cabot to put a legal hold on Mrs. Cabot's will, depriving Peter of a job and home. A successful young architect, Alan, despondent after a bitter divorce, falls in love with a beautiful, high-priced call girl, Michelle. Michelle discourages Alan's feelings for her, but he persists and follows her back to her apartment, where he discovers that she has a child. Alan leaves, and Michelle, emotionally worn, moves out immediately to start anew in another city. Finding her gone, Alan sets out to find the woman he loves. By virtue of her experience and current position, Julie expects to become Christine's assistant, but Megan makes an aggressive bid fo

Continuing his efforts to take over the hotel, Charles Cabot evicts Peter from the hotel penthouse and searches the accounting records for evidence of wasteful spending. Charles's sister Jessica and family patriarch Uncle Jake align with Peter, forcing Charles to back down temporarily. With Peter sharing Christine's office and making managerial decisions that she should be making, Christine is forced to assert herself. Realizing that Peter will never give up his old office, Christine has a storeroom converted into her office. Rena Payne plots to have her young lover, Ray, murder her wealthy husband, Everett. Rena arranges to have Ray shoot Everett in her hotel room and to make it look like a robbery. Noticing that Billy carries a pistol, Rena sends Billy to her hotel room in the hope of eliminating both her husband and her lover. When Ray fails to go through with the plan, Rena is arrested. Julie is promoted to director of guest relations, and a new concierge, Elizabeth, is hired, but

Agoraphobia, or the fear of open spaces, has kept Laura Shafer confined to the hotel for three months. Laura's father, Al, who is a used-auto dealer, her jilted fiancé Kevin and Peter all try to help her, but to no avail. When Al's efforts to help his daughter end up doing more harm than good, Peter eventually convinces him to stop trying to run her life. With help from a counselor, Laura makes enough progress to reunite with Kevin. When Charles Cabot fails in courting Christine as an ally against Peter, he resumes his angry confrontation with Peter. Elizabeth, the new concierge, recognizes a film director, Harley Magnuson, and manages a romantic rendezvous with him in his hotel room. When Harley's wife arrives unexpectedly and catches them, Elizabeth has to talk Christine out of firing her. Shortly thereafter, Billy is puzzled to see Elizabeth meeting in private with Charles Cabot.

When John Lucas, a Missouri sheriff, checks in, his wife Jenny accuses Billy of murdering her brother six years ago. Charles Cabot informs Lucas of Billy's prison record, information the new concierge, Elizabeth, has provided from Christine's personnel files. Charles tries to use the opportunity to replace Billy with a security chief of his choosing. Traveling fur coat salesman and bigamist Freddy Barnes struggles to keep his two lives separate, when his wife of three years, Sonia, surprises Freddy at a convention to which he has brought his wife of eight years, Barbara. When Elizabeth is revealed as Charles Cabot's daughter, Christine doesn't fire her because Christine has sympathy for the fact that Charles is exploiting his daughter.

A fickle young heiress, Erica Atwood reconsiders her engagement to Chip Lansing, heir to Lansing Chemicals, a company with which Atwood Chemicals is on the verge of merging. To her family's dismay, Erica instead intends to marry Tony Patterson, a wildlife scientist and son of the Atwood's gardener. Tony initially learns of Erica's engagement at a disastrous dinner with Erica and her family. Erica's pragmatic older sister Isabel disapproves of Tony at first, then falls in love with him. Elizabeth seduces Peter's banker to get access to his personal investment file. The information turns out to be useless, and instead of being grateful, her scheming father, Charles, chastises Elizabeth for her wanton ways. Elizabeth later invites a strange man to her apartment; the man brutally rapes her. Because she was foolish enough to let the man in, Charles blames Elizabeth. Through Peter and Christine's mediation, however, Charles and Elizabeth take a small step toward reconciliation.

After army officers Nick Hauser and Rodger Gage check in for a weekend on the town, Rodger has an illicit rendezvous with his gay lover. In a gay neighborhood, street punks beat up Rodger, and Nick learns his army colleague's secret. Nick furiously demands that Rodger leave the hotel. Bellman Dave, who is Rodger's old friend, has a talk with Nick, helping him realize that Rodger is a good friend, regardless of his sexual orientation. Meanwhile, Elizabeth interferes with important communications between Christine and a potential client, making Christine look incompetent just as Charles Cabot is questioning Peter and Christine's managerial capabilities. Elizabeth also schemes to estrange Christine from Peter by spilling wine on her dress while visiting Peter. When Christine arrives to find Elizabeth wearing Peter's robe, Christine assumes the worst.

Charles Cabot tries to revive an old romance with Dr. Hannah Fielding, who is attending a convention of the World Health Organization. Their previous involvement years before had ended because Hannah knew that Charles's first love was his business affairs. Charles woos Hannah into spending the night with him, but she decides to end it there and return to her work with third-world children. Brede Ashlander, a charismatic multimillionaire yet also a domineering husband, hounds hotel employee Marie Lockhart. Marie had fled from him two months ago and now wants a divorce, but Brede tells Christine that Marie is in need of psychiatric therapy. When Brede tries to remove Marie by force, Christine prevents him and assigns the hotel lawyer to Marie's divorce case. When Charles agrees to sell Cabot Corporation's half of the hotel to an Australian conglomerate, Peter refuses to sell his interest. Peter's impassioned and eloquent refusal inspires Charles to withdraw from the sale and leave the af

Charles Cabot, half-owner of the St. Gregory Hotel, introduces Peter to Lee Jordon, who represents a resort conglomerate interested in buying the hotel. Peter resists any thought of a sale because running the hotel is the only life he wants. Lee is willing to settle for Charles's share and day-to-day participation in running the hotel. Peter obtains a bank loan to buy out Charles's share of the hotel; though Peter's offer is less than Lee's, Charles sells his share to Peter, making Peter the sole owner of the hotel. Two young married couples share a large suite for a brief vacation in San Francisco. Jonas Robinson, a nose-to-the-grindstone accountant, is married to Melissa, a frivolous fun-loving blonde; and journalist Sean Marris, a rakish bon vivant, is married to Kate, a prim, practical woman. A daytrip turns into an impulsive fling for Sean and Melissa, which draws Jonas and Kate together for a more serious affair.