Season 4 begins with Paige, Spinner, Marco, Jimmy, and Hazel entering Grade 11. Spinner buys a car with the money he's earned at The Dot, and Paige receives a summons to testify at the trial of the guy who raped her.

The pressure of the trial combined with confronting Dean sends Paige into a destructive downward spiral. Craig receives a generous 16th birthday present from his late father, which causes a rift between Craig and Joey.

Marco runs for Student Council President, but he could lose just more than just President when he finds out who his opponent is- Alex. Emma becomes jealous when Liberty gets closer to Chris.

When Rick returns to Degrassi, Emma helps Paige and her friends protest to keep him out. J.T. worries that he doesn't measure up to Craig for Manny.

After being fired from the DOT it seems she'll never be able to pay Spin back for what she did to his car, but that's not all she may have to worry about as Hazel shows her some convincing photos of foul play. Meanwhile in Mr.Simpsons MI class Toby and Rick partner up but they start to compete for who can get more kisses.

Rick has made friends with both Emma and Toby and when he's forced to work with Jimmy he may make another new friend but when Spinner, Jay and Alex rain on his parade he takes extreme measures. Meanwhile Joey has to sell his home and gets help from an old flame.

After being humiliated Rick returns to Degrassi with a handgun in his backpack and prepares to do the unthinkable and get revenge upon the students of Degrassi for laughing and humiliating him in the TV game show. Also one person will not survive this school shooting.

In the aftermath of the school shooting everybody is talking as they need to get some closure over what happened, but Sean who thinks he has everything under control may not be as well adjusted as he though and may have to take a trip back home to confront his past. Meanwhile JT and Danny have shun Toby out for making friends with the school shooter plus Toby is planning on going to Rick's funeral.

Despite everything that transpired between them, Craig and Ashley start to develop a friendship. Craig clashes with his band when he suggests Ashley become their new member. Hazel brings Paige along to a yoga class taught by Mr. Oleander, the hot new teaching assistant.

Craig is suffering from mood swings and Ashley seems to be the only one who can help, Ashley's dad is planning to get remarried, elsewhere J.T. and Liberty attempt to work together on the school musical.

In the conclusion, Craig proceeds to embarrass Ashley during the reception at her father's wedding.

Paige attempts to get Mr. O alone, while Spinner is disappointed when Manny becomes interested in a new student.

Ever since the trauma of the shooting, Emma has been distancing herself from her friends and neglecting her typical interests. Emma discovers a scandalous secret when she goes to the ravine with Jay but instead of turning everyone in, Emma decides to join in on the raunchy ravine activities.

Emma keeps her "friends with benefits" relationship with Jay a secret and vows not to tell anyone what goes on at the ravine. But when Emma receives some devastating news, can she keep it to herself much longer? Meanwhile, Jimmy is fed up with being pitied and enlists the help of Craig and Marco to sneak out of the rehab center for a concert by his favorite band.

Everyone is thrilled when Jimmy finally returns to school. Unfortunately for Spinner, Jimmy's return means revealing the truth about what happened that fateful day and dealing with the repercussions. Spinner deeply wants to redeem himself but how can he fully be forgiven for telling Rick that the prank was Jimmy's idea? Danny disapproves of the relationship between J.T. and Liberty.

Ellie has begun playing cards at home with Alex, Dylan, Craig and others. But when Alex wants to keep playing and playing for money will Ellie give up her rent money or will this card shark lose it all? Meanwhile Paige who has a secret affair is wondering if there are more secrets than she knows already.

Paige and Matt (Mr. Oleander) desperately try to keep their relationship a secret but it seems to be an impossible mission when Mr. Simpson spies them together at the park and Manny spreads rumors about them to Hazel. Emma has a ladies night and all her girlfriends are head over heals for Emma's new neighbor, Chester.

Dylan would like more from his relationship with Marco, meanwhile Spinner and Jay attempt to break into Degrassi.

The war between Manny and Paige continues when Paige takes credit for Manny's choreography in the Spirit Squad's last routine of the year. Manny reaches the breaking point and starts plotting appropriate revenge. Catlin interviews Kevin Smith about his new project called "Jay and Silent Bob Go To Canada, Eh?"

Craig is upset Ashley is going away to London for the summer because he fears she will dump him for someone else. He plans to show up in London to surprise her but his romantic gesture terribly backfires. Jay and Silent Bob start shooting their movie and Catlin makes a big mistake after going to a bar with Kevin Smith.

Craig leaves London heartbroken because of Ashley's rejection. His ever-so-fragile mental stability is pushed to such a breaking point that Craig seeks solace by living in the Degrassi boiler room.