Alison takes a job as a waitress at Shooters. Amanda uses Billy's status to her advantage in her contract negotiations. Kimberly asks Peter to take Michael out of town for a few days so that she can have time to herself. Michael and Peter head to Palm Springs, where they are judges in a teen beauty pageant. Teri Carson, the pushy mother of one of the contestants, tries to convince Peter to vote for her daughter. Her daughter, Brandi, seduces Michael. She does not win the pageant. Amanda dumps Billy to go back to Peter. She rejects Peter after Teri shows up on his doorstep and says that she is suing him for sleeping with her underage daughter. Sydney tries to bond with Bobby by getting him drunk and getting tattoos together. Sydney's friend Laurie comes to town with her young son Tyler. Jo takes them in because Sydney has no room for them. While babysitting, Jo discovers bruises on the boy's back. Matt laments the fact that Alan has moved to New York.

Teri threatens to expose Michael's actions to Kimberly unless he lets Peter take the fall for sleeping with Brandi. Amanda apologizes for doubting Peter. He refuses to meet Teri's settlement demands. Kimberly begs Peter for help with her illness. Before he can treat her, he is arrested for statutory rape. Amanda learns that Michael was the one who slept with Brandi. Kimberly argues with ""Betsy,"" who conks Michael on the head with a hammer. Matt asks one of his medical school professors, pediatrician Dr. Dominick O'Malley, to look at Tyler. He finds no evidence of abuse. Laurie tells Jo to mind her own business. Billy's string of success with ad campaigns comes to an end. He decides that he must put his obsession with Brooke behind him and move on. Richard rapes Jane during a business trip to New York. She pushes Jake away and doesn't tell anyone what has happened. Sydney inadvertently becomes a porno producer when she invests money with an old acquaintance of Bobby's.

Amanda persuades Teri to drop the charges against Peter by making Brandi the spokesperson for a cosmetics company. ""Betsy"" throws a knife at Michael after he reveals that he slept with Brandi. When he returns, Kimberly begs him to stay away for his own good. She turns to Peter for help, but vanishes before he can aid her. Bobby's friend Jimmy tells Sydney that Alycia and Peter conspired to take Bobby down. Syd shares this news with Bobby, who sets up a confrontation with Alycia. When he tries to attack her, she knocks him out a high-rise building to his death. As Peter is about to be questioned about Bobby's death, Alycia calls from her car and confesses. She agrees to turn herself in, but loses control of the car while picking up her phone, and has a head-on collision with a semi. Dominick gets Matt to set him up on a date with Jo. She convinces him to see Tyler again, and Laurie reveals that the boy was abused by her ex-boyfriend. Jane tells Jake about the rape in the hopes that he w