When Richard Channing and John Remick offer to help Maggie pay off Angela, each plays dirty to make sure that he will be the one to whom she is indebted. When Angela sends Lance and Dan to investigate Emma's new job, she is too late. Vickie not only tells Maggie that she is pregnant, but also confesses Eric's gambling mania. Dina is seriously injured in a car accident with Lance. While Maggie and Richard visit his new Nevada property, they are unaware that they are under surveillance. Consequently, they return home to face Angela's demand for payment.

After Angela and Richard individually maneuver to meet the man behind the mysterious activity in the Tuscany Valley, they are both placed in precarious positions. Maggie can't understand Richard's reluctance to rely on the police. Angela forces Wilkinson to reveal Richard's ownership of lake property in Nevada. Emma, agreeing to write her autobiography, acquires a ghostwriter and personal manager, and heads for Hollywood. While Lance discovers that someone sabotaged his car, Vickie finds herself among the homeless. In conclusion, an explosion destroys the Gioberti home.

After Angela and Richard meet the mysterious Carlton Travis, Angela conspires with Carlton to destroy Richard. Richard realizes that although Carlton is a man who won't listen to reason, he will listen to Angela. With all the trimmings Hollywood offers, Emma works on her screenplay. Melissa takes Dan to Australia to visit Cole and her son. With Frank Starr's assistance, Dina's nurse works on her patient to discredit Lance. Angela and Travis discover that they have a history.

After Richard rejects Carlton Travis's offer of a truce, Travis kidnaps him and Angela. After Maggie hires an old friend to plan a birthday party for Richard's son, Angela brings a puppy as a gift to the party. Melissa spirits her son away for a picnic and becomes lost in the Australian bush. Dina's nurse gets her to sign Lance's half-million-dollar check over to her. Lance suspects that Frank Starr tampered with his car.

After Angela digs into the past to save Richard from Carlton Travis, she must open old wounds. Angela goes to the wife of a Supreme Court justice and one of Washington's most celebrated hostesses to recruit help in rescuing her son. When Lance is arrested for murder, Melissa comes to his aid. A man who Dan suspects is a thief turns out to be his father. While asleep, Lance is injected with a toxin that will kill him within 24 hours.