When Bea is sentenced to life without parole for the killing of Brayden Holt, Ferguson makes it very clear - she owns Bea now. So when Bea uses her standing as Top Dog to hit back, Ferguson takes revenge - she slots Bea and releases Liz from Protection, exposing Liz to a brutal bashing from Boomer. But Ferguson has underestimated Bea, who starts a riot amongst the prisoners. With the prison in lock-down Ferguson has to turn to Bea to quell the riot. Wentworth isn't Ferguson's prison - it's Bea's. Battle lines are drawn.

Following the riot, Bea must balance an uneasy peace with Ferguson with the needs and expectations of the women. Ferguson wants to stamp out drugs inside the prison and for obvious reasons Bea finds herself on common ground with the Governor. But when it becomes clear that Ferguson wants Franky's head for it, Bea must wonder if, rather than help her cement her position as Top Dog, it may indeed be a ruse to undermine it. Meanwhile, Liz has a difficult reunion with her daughter Sophie and is unsure when Doreen proposes she be the alternate carer when the baby comes. Will is in a happy place and seems to finally be able to put the past behind him is shocked when he is the focus of a murder investigation.

Franky's under fire. With her supply cut and her powerbase decimated, she's on her own when prisoners come after her to claim what they're owed. Bridget identifies Franky as someone she could really help, but Franky refuses to engage, venting her frustration by trashing the Education Unit. Meanwhile Bea is concerned at the police interest in Will, and shocked when he makes a startling confession.

The women of H Block return to Wentworth after the rebuild to find a new dynamic in play — Vera is governor, Will is deputy and Kaz Proctor has established a power base. Bea questions whether she has the stamina or desire to be Top Dog for the next forty years of her sentence. On the outside, Franky is trying hard to be a productive member of society. As always, no-one should underestimate "the Freak".

Feeling betrayed, Vera takes steps to have Bridget dismissed and expose her relationship with Franky, but is forced to backtrack and enlist Bridget s help instead, when Ferguson makes a bid to be released into the general prison population. The three unlikely allies devise a plan in which Bridget attempts to entrap Ferguson into exposing her psychopathy. Kaz stages a protest with the women in the yard in an attempt to force Vera s hand on the conjugal visits program.

Against Vera's wishes, Ferguson is released into general. The women are out for blood but Vera confines Ferguson to her cell for safety reasons. When Ferguson challenges Vera's decision, she's left bewildered and wondering whether Ferguson has a death-wish. As always, Ferguson has an endgame but will she live to accomplish it?

Ferguson, having found protection in Kaz's crew, cunningly blames Will for her brutal ganging, a move which only strengthens Kaz's support for her. When Bea defends Will, it backfires dramatically. She is painted as a screw-lover, and rapidly begins to lose the support of the women. The first ever conjugal visit takes place at the prison, and Boomer shamelessly attempts to impregnate herself to her deadbeat ex-boyfriend, Daz. Meanwhile, Maxine is diagnosed with breast cancer and can't bring herself to tell the other women.

With Bea in the slot, Ferguson intensifies her manipulation of Kaz. Seizing on the recent death of her father that sends Kaz into an inexplicable spiral Ferguson realises that Kaz was a victim of abuse at his hands. Ferguson uses her own troubled relationship with her father as a means of form a closer bond with Kaz. When new Indigenous inmate, Tasha, is put under Doreen s care, Ferguson sees an opportunity to force Kaz into action against Bea. With Maxine as acting Top Dog, Ferguson places Tasha in Lucy's orbit and when Tasha breaks the rules by protecting herself from Lucy's molestation, Maxine appears to have no choice but to punish Tasha. Ferguson urges Kaz to stand up to Maxine and save the innocent girl from abuse at the hands of a man , thereby tapping into Kaz's past trauma. Bea and Ally's bond is cemented when they are slotted in adjoining cells and spend hours talking.

Ferguson is rattled when she discovers that Bea will be supporting Jesper’s evidence in court. Meanwhile, Bea seems to be losing control of the women so she forces a prison-wide vote to end the debate. Vera is privately determined that Bea maintains control and interferes with the votes, cementing Bea’s power. When Kaz gets sentenced for 12-years, Ferguson unveils her plan and urges Kaz to help her. In return, she’ll take out Bea Smith.

As Bea and Allie take their illicit affair further, Bea finds herself uncharacteristically tentative and vulnerable. Neither is aware that Ferguson is tracking them carefully, plotting to drug Bea, then trap and kill her. Meanwhile, Maxine leaves the prison to undergo a double mastectomy, and Boomer is distraught when her application to be support person is denied.