Angela and Lance team up against Chase in the FAA's investigation of the crash. Angela bribes Buzz Whitehead, the airplane mechanic, to lie and claim that Chase had been drinking prior to the flight and had ignored the fuel leak warning. Chase is determined to discover who sabotaged the plane and swears that if the cartel was involved, Richard will pay. Gustav arrives in Tuscany Valley to obtain the Falcon Crest secret. Angela, Lance and Greg plot to take The Globe from Richard. Maggie's father, Paul Hartford, arrives for a visit. The Giobertis throw a party to introduce their new champagne, but the celebration turns into a nightmare for Maggie when Angela reveals that Maggie is adopted and her father is unable to deny the painful truth.

Pamela is surprised to discover that Richard's attacker is Padgett who pulls back the covers to find only pillows where Richard's body should have been. Padgett tries to flee the town, and Gustav is furious that Richard Channing has not been eliminated properly. At The Globe, Lance becomes publisher to the dismay of many of his new employees. The Board of Supervisors removes Chase as head of the airport authority. Joel McCarthy, out of money and desperate to support his drug habit, mugs Maggie at Tuscany Downs. She never sees her attacker, and later, Cole unwittingly hires Joel as the new transportation foreman for the vineyards. Emma hears Julia call out to her in the vineyards, but when Angela arrives, Julia disappears again.

Chase uses Emma's findings and confronts Senator Silverlake in Washington, D.C. with the evidence that he was bribed into faking the F.A.A. reports. Senator Silverlake confesses, absolving Chase of all blame in the crash. Lorraine demands that Lance print a retraction to an article that ties Richard Channing to the criminal underworld. Lance is more interested in seduction than retractions, but Lorraine strives to ignore his advances. Both Richard and Gustav court Francesca in order to get closer to her share of Falcon Crest. However, Angela and Greg persuade her to sign a contract for her share of the vineyards. Private Investigator Mike Harris informs Maggie that her real father was killed in World War II. Melissa tells Greg she cannot see him anymore as it will jeopardize her relationship with Cole, but Greg is persistent in pursuing her.

Julia has been taken to Reibmann's estate, where she is confined in what resembles a hospital room. When she comes to, the nurse informs her that Lucas has been arrested for harboring a criminal, and then turns on the TV to a newscast, which covers the arrest of Julia Cumson! How did they find out she was alive? Julia wants to know. Angela found out about her phone calls to Emma, the doctor explains, as Julia becomes hysterical. ""How could you do this to me?"" Julia cries. Things are working perfectly, Reibmann comments, watching from behind a two-way mirror. He's staged the whole scenario! Meanwhile, Angela has enough troubles of her own-both Francesca and the agreement have disappeared. As if that weren't enough, Chase turns over his notes to the U.S. Attorney's office to bring a case against her for libel, perjury, and whatever else she may have done to frame him with the FAA. Chase, too, is preoccupied with Francesca and her agreement with Angela. Melissa takes advantage to score a

Richard, thrilled with his one-third ownership of Falcon Crest, makes plans to acquire more harvests. He reveals to Terry that he knows Joel is blackmailing her and promises to help her if she sells him her harvest. In the fake hospital, Spheeris and Riebmann continue to torment Julia, telling her that Angela has granted them permission to perform a frontal lobotomy on her. Ben Landale, claiming to work for the U.S. Government, arrives at Falcon Crest with orders to look for Johann Riebmann. With Melissa and Lance's divorce finalized, Melissa agrees to marry Cole. Mike Harris, who is secretly working with Angela, finds Maggie's mother, Charlotte Pershing, and takes her to the radio station. Angela informs Greg that she located Maggie's mother because her compulsive gambling habits will create major problems for Chase and Maggie.

Maggie may be Lance's only hope to prove his innocence as she investigates his case for her story. She goes to Angela with the evidence in support of Lance, and to his amazement, Angela admits that she now believes his story and promises to help him by letting Greg Reardon defend him, provided that he stop seeing Lorraine. Lance and Lorraine part miserably, planning to reunite after he is acquitted. Charlotte is unsuccessful in retrieving Maggie's pearls from the pawnshop, and Maggie cries when she discovers them missing. From his surveillance room, Riebmann hears Angela's plans to make Lorraine her heir, and soon begins to court her. Cole and Chase discover a shocking plan to undermine their champagne production.

After years of hard work, Chase and Cole dump hundreds of gallons of tainted champagne as Richard and Angela look on. Chase is convinced one of them is responsible for the poisoning. Richard's obsession with trying to destroy Lance prompts Maggie to quit her job at the radio station. Shaken over her mother's sudden disappearance, Maggie travels to Los Angeles to find her. Upon meeting with his stepfather, Alexander Nicolau, Chase uncovers his mother's dangerous connections with the cartel and is determined to uncover why Riebmann so fervently wants Tuscany Valley. Back in Tuscany Valley, reporters and spectators jam the courthouse for Lance's preliminary hearing. Richard is immensely pleased with Judge Holder's ruling that Lance must still stand trial for attempted murder.

Lance stands trial for the attempted murder of Angela, but his real court battle is against Richard Channing, who has secretly bribed the judge. Richard discovers that Greg and the prosecutor, Caroline Earle, have agreed to a deal that would considerably lighten his Lance's sentence. He passes this information to Judge Holder, who, on instruction, rejects such an arrangement. Cole and Melissa consider hiring a surrogate mother to bear them a child. Chase decides to hire Connie to help Cole with their champagne production. Cassandra and Damon come closer to an opportunity for revenge on Angela. Cassandra must keep their identity and plan hidden from Richard, who finds Cassandra intriguing. Melissa's cousin, Robin, arrives at the Gioberti household for an extended visit and hungrily sets her sights on Cole and the mansion.

Richard and Maggie survive the explosion, but Maggie suffers from amnesia. Chase takes Maggie home from the hospital to try to rebuild their marriage. Angela Channing is forced into revealing a long-kept secret in her fight to save her wine empire from the encroachments of a vengeful mother and daughter who intend to take over the historic estate. Julia had Dominic Rossini's child, but was told it was stillborn. In order to save Falcon Crest, Angela reveals that the child was raised in an orphanage and is Father Christopher. Meanwhile, Richard Channing sets himself up as a target to flush out the killer who was responsible for his and Maggie's injuries from the explosion. He also hires an attorney, Jordan Jennifer Roberts, to help him rescue his empire.

Sofia's attempt to reason with Phillippe about her father and Lance's imprisonment places her in the same predicament. However, a shootout at the chalet frees them all. After Lance fails to report to her at Falcon Crest, Angela flies to Europe with Reardon to find him, but they arrive too late to do any good. In the meantime, Emma and Dwayne find Ursula in Mexico and rescue her with the help of a flirtatious police captain. In order to even the score with Angela, Chase devises a ruse for one of the valley's vineyard owners. Jordan worries about her memory lapses, but begins to find rather unnerving clues to her behavior. Chase approves of Maggie's tour to promote her book. Joseph violently reacts to Melissa and Cole's continual disputes.

Reasoning that Angela would never give control of Falcon Crest to an outsider, Lance is convinced that Peter is hiding something from the rest of the family. At the winery, Emma reconciles with Dwayne. After Maggie rejects Jeff's advances, he continues to fantasize about her. After Jordan provides Terry information about Richard and Chase's secret business plans, Richard hires a detective to check on Jordan. Eric begins to enjoy the campaign to secure Melissa's grapes for Falcon Crest when he takes her dancing. Reardon is fired after he refuses to obey Peter's order to withdraw $30 million of Falcon Crest funds for him.

After the specter of Jeff Wainwright haunts Maggie, she overcomes her intrinisic fear of firearms and purchases a gun for protection. When Maggie's daughter Vickie returns home, she admits that not only has she has gone through two divorces, but that she lied about being a famous ballet dancer. Despite the ballistics test results, Maggie refuses to believe that a member could be responsible for shooting Chase. At Falcon Crest, Angela considers a foreclosure. In spite of a few close calls, Kit succeeds in hiding her past from Peter.

When Maggie prematurely gives birth to her baby at Falcon Crest, Angela conspires with rich newcomer Roland Saunders in her plans to destroy Richard. Angela finds a kindred spirit in Saunders, ""the rudest billionaire in the Fortune 500."" When Richard offers to sign the birth certificate of Maggie's baby, Chase surprises them by signing it himself. The idea of the new baby troubles Emma. Lance questions his father about Kolinski, while Tony has to lie to his son to protect Kit. During Angela's international wine show at the spa, the matron of Falcon Crest arrives with Saunders, and Peter disapproves.

Peter threatens Angela and Roland Saunders as he tries to discover their connection to Kit Marlowe. Due to Angela's interest in Maggie's baby, Maggie concludes that she must give the baby up for adoption if the child is to lead a decent life. After Maggie refuses to allow Emma and Karlotti have her child, the two instead apply to adopt a child. While Angela plans Dan and Vickie's engagement party, she promises to give them a vineyard. Peter forces Tony to tell him about Kit. After Chase makes Gabrielle a proposition, he offers Lance a partnership with him and Tony. Angela plans to solve the mystery of Kit Marlowe.

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.