Eli Gilmour, a divorced father, reunites with his two children, Quinn, 13, and Josh, 11, after a six month absence. Although Eli has worried that they wouldn't accept his live-in girlfriend, Maxine, his children are more troubled by Eli's efforts to compensate for his feelings of failure. Though their reunion and Eli's behavior are unsteady, when the mother is suddenly hospitalized in critical condition, Eli comes through for Quinn and Josh. A divorced song-writing team, Fran Clark and Larry Matthews, is forced to collaborate on modernizing their 25-year-old hit musical for a revival production. By the time the producer enthusiastically approves the rewrite, Fran and Larry are headed for the altar one more time. After suffering a back injury in an accident, Mrs. Cabot misinterprets a prescription and becomes addicted to pain pills. Peter and Christine are alarmed by Mrs. Cabot's dramatic mood swings; when Peter offers Mrs. Cabot some helpful advice, she fires him for insubordination. M

Peter has given Andrea Green, a photographer-friend of Julie's, a chance at the photo assignment for the new hotel brochure. Andrea's father Louis is highly critical of his daughter's work ethics, which leads to bitter family squabbling. Andrea's mother Sonya, rapidly succumbing to Alzheimer's, begs her husband and daughter to work things out. Architect David Welch befriends Christine and offers to help convert Christine's Napa Valley barn into a home. While Christine and David share a dinner date, David's ex-wife Rebecca visits Peter. Rebecca demands that Peter stop Christine's affair with her husband before the hotel gets caught up in a scandal. Later, Rebecca trips Christine on a stairway, causing her a painful fall. Peter tells Christine to work at home for a few days until he and Billy can get rid of the obsessive ex-wife. Rebecca, however, visits Christine in her apartment and holds Christine at knifepoint as she screams accusations. When a phone call from Peter interrupts the co