Successful editor Stephanie Wells moves from Seattle to a fancy, luxurious apartment in Central Park West along with her writer husband Mark Merrill. She's been offered a job as the editor of the trendy magazine 'Communique', owned by the very wealthy Allen Rush. Allen is married to Linda Fairchild Rush and is the stepfather of her grown-up children Peter and Carrie. Carrie writes a column in 'Communique' for a ridiculously high salary and her bitchy attitude immediately gets her in a conflict with her new boss Stephanie. Peter, however, has a very successful career as a lawyer at the district attorney's office and is doing good. His good friend Gil Chase works as a broker and dumps his girlfriend Deanne Landers after he's thrown away all her money on a bad investment. She then shows up at his work and promises to get back at him. Peter, Gil, Carrie and their friend Nikki Sheridan, a talented SoHo art gallery owner, play soft ball in a park and are joined in the game by the beautiful A

Alex tries in vain to convince her editor John to drop the article on Peter. Tired of Carrie's intrigues, Stephanie drops her column. A vengeful Carrie goes to Mark and tells him she's got a producer for his play. Deanne shows up at Gil's apartment, takes off her clothes and says she's willing to forgive him. Gil pulls back at the last minute and Deanne swears a terrible revenge. Stephanie is arranging a party but Mark can't attend as he's meeting with Carrie about the production of his play. Steph thinks Carrie's intentions are rotten. Carrie tells Mark that she is the producer interested in the play and convinces him to go along with the plan. Linda suspects Allen of cheating with Stephanie. Gil takes a sexy model, Monique, home with him to have sex. However, Deanne still has a key to Gil's flat and goes there and pretends she is Gil's girlfriend. Peter and Alex are falling very much in love. Alex reveals the truth as the article on Peter hits the newsstand. The article includes much

Peter asks Allen a favor; get Alex rehired at The Globe. At 'Communique', Steph does her best to catch the leak. She suspects Carrie of being the culprit. Rachel continues her sabotaging at 'Communique', making Stephanie look incompetent. Mark and Stephanie's old friend Danny arrives in New York on a business trip. Danny is launching a new line of sportswear and lets 'Communique' do the advertising. Rachel contacts Allen and tries to convince him Stephanie is the leak. Mark gets contacted by Ian Walker, an acclaimed theater producer, who wants to produce his play. He offers Mark $10,000 to option the play but Mark feels torn since Carrie is already producing. After pressure from the almighty Allen, several of Nikki's biggest clients remove their art from her gallery. Peter finally manages to reconcile with Alex. A jealous Rachel tells Alex she only got her job back because of Peter. Alex doesn't want more to do with Peter but he refuses to give up in the end she has to give in. Nikki b

Mark and Stephanie's marriage is rocky as Mark can't bring himself to forgive her. At work, Stephanie clashes with Tom Chasen again over an article she refuses to print. Rachel meets with Tom and promises to get him a much better job at British Vogue if he confesses to being the leak. Tom agrees and confesses to Steph, who reluctantly has to rehire Carrie. Nikki informs Linda she's found an anonymous buyer that will purchase the Renoir for $5 million. Carrie forces Steph to make her an executive editor. After another romantic evening, Peter and Alex have sex for the first time. Mark unwillingly ends up in bed with Carrie again. Carrie is planning a surprise birthday party for Peter but Rachel learns about these plans and manages to get Peter with her to dinner so he never finds out about the party. She even tells him she loves him but Peter remains loyal to Alex. Nikki visits Allen to end their affair once and for all, only to discover that he is the anonymous buyer of the Renoir. Gil

Nikki provides Linda with receipts, gifts, events and the names of places where she and Allen met. Linda is impressed; now she can nail Allen. Peter teaches a class of law students and gets completely swept away by one of the students; Robin Gaynor. The feeling seems to be mutual. Steph cancels Mark's article and offers him a kill-fee for his trouble but Mark gets very mad. Mark calls Carrie and talks about how much he loves her on her answering machine. Carrie picks up and they argue until Mark says he's had enough and is going back to Stephanie. Carrie uses the tape from the answering machine and records it on the voice-mails of everyone at 'Communique'. At work, Stephanie is the last to learn about her husband's affair. She rushes into Carrie's office for a heated confrontation. Gil takes Peter to a strip club and to his horror, Peter discovers that Robin is one of the ""dancers"". Steph confronts Mark and throws him out. Rachel offers her support to Stephanie and convinces her to tak

Allen bails out Mark to avoid more scandals and pays Carrie to drop the charges. Stephanie returns, pulls Rachel's new fashion issue and fires her. Gil is approached by mega tycoon Adam Brock, who asks him to quietly buy stocks from Allen's company, Rush Media. Mark is on speaking terms with Stephanie again but she still can't forgive him. Peter tells Alex to stop threatening Robin but Alex reveals she's pregnant. Her pediatritian, Dr. West, confirms it and Alex demands Peter to marry her. Brock tells Gil to contact Linda and see if she's willing to sell her 3% of Rush Media. Rachel gives Allen her pulled fashion magazine and claims it's a much better magazine than Stephanie will ever be able to put together. Allen lets Rachel edit special fashion supplements to 'Communique'. Distressed to still be working with Rachel, Steph sleeps with Mark but later regrets it. Robin quits her job at the strip club. Peter says nothing to her about the baby. Alex goes to Linda and sobs about the pr

Jordan Tate, a junior editor at Ward & Weston, tries to introduce some writers to 'Communique' but Rachel isn't interested and treats her like trash. However, she has a sudden change of heart when she learns Jordan is Brock's daughter. Allen hires a P.I. to dig up dirt on Brock. Brock is introduced to Jordan's boyfriend, struggling actor Randy Boyd, but he isn't overwhelmed. Gabe confesses to Nikki that he's a hitman, paid by Allen to kill her. While Allen sits home, thinking of a way to nail Brock, Linda has an interesting night out with Brock and gets to know him better. Peter wants to be with Robin even though he'll marry Alex. Carrie befriends Jordan and learns how Brock's wife left the family 12 years ago. She now lives in Monte Carlo and owns 25% of Brock's company. Allen is outraged when the P.I. brings him photos of Brock and Linda kissing. Allen confronts Linda and finally she leaves him and moves in with Carrie. Alex is devastated to learn she isn't pregnant and puts more pre