When Skyler's disappearance and apparent suicide casts a pall over the mansion, Peter blames himself for not recognizing her distress. Peter's guilt drives him away, but Skyler's tragedy makes Emma finally realize that Dwayne is gone forever, and Angela is at last able to comfort her daughter. Tony learns the truth about Skyler (Kit). When Richard's son is kidnapped, he feels lost. Chase faces the fact that, of the two people in the valley he most despises, Richard and Angela, one is taking flowers to his wife and the other is trying to get closer to his daughter. Lance calls for his father's help when Melissa has a nervous breakdown.

In addition to a huge ransom, the kidnappers demand that Meredith, the only one who can identify them, be handed over to them in exchange for Richard's son. Richard learns that Angela was responsible for putting Meredith in his household and vows that she will pay for what she has done to him. Concerned about Vicky's relationship with Dan Fixx, Chase travels to Oklahoma to determine for himself the type of man his daughter is involved with, and is then beaten up by the small town's corrupt chief of police and his henchmen. Lance refuses to declare Melissa mentally incompetent after her breakdown. After selling his winery to Lance, Eric talks Angela into letting him manage the spa. Emma discovers that she is not pregnant with Dwayne's child and now wants to have a baby with Karlotti.

Rushing to protect Chase, Dan Fixx lands in jail, and Chase has to try to rescue him, as well as himself, from corrupt officers. Angela rejects Peter's proposal to join him in Monte Carlo and is shocked at his response. Richard happily tells Maggie news of his son and Vicky misunderstands the kiss her mother gives him. Emma learns the truth about Karlotti, but she doesn't change her feelings about him. Peter summons Tony to Monte Carlo to discuss Skyler. Angela and Richard confront each other. Lance is concerned over Melissa's reactions.

Due to Melissa's peculiar behavior, Lance loses his chance to join an exclusive club, which alienates him from Joseph. After Richard becomes the new distributor for Angela's wines, Angela hires a new lawyer. Vicky and Angela become concerned about Dan's preoccupation with Suzanne. Richard tries to recruit Peter in his vendetta against Angela. Lance enlists Chase and Maggie to help him with Joseph.

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.

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.

At Angela's engagement party for them, Vicky and Dan set the tone of the party by trying to avoid it. After Kit demonstrates a need to tell Tony good-bye, both Richard and Peter confront Saunders. Maggie arrives looking for her baby, which she now knows is Chase's. After Emma confounds Angela by introducing her adopted son, one of the guests is found dead in the winery.

Tony and Lance assist each other as circumstantial evidence implicates them in murder, but it is to no avail when Angela goes back on her word. Angela breaks her promise to Lance when she realizes that it is more important to protect her grandson than his father. Vickie and Eric's actions at the party make Dan face a dilemma. Francine Hope is able to help Maggie and Chase, who are then able to contact the lawyer who arranged the adoption of their baby. Richard is finally able to realize his revenge on Angela. When Melissa entertains as ""Veronique, the Slumming Socialite"" on amateur night at a San Francisco nightclub, she becomes all the rage.

Melissa's desperate attempts to keep the baby result in a car chase that ends when the car carrying her, Chase, Maggie, Richard and Dan plunges into San Francisco Bay. Angela discovers that her child, whom she previously believed to have died in childbirth, is alive and ready to return to haunt her. When Angela and Peter reconcile and she tries to buy Peter's freedom, Peter, facing murder charges, flees with Kit.

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 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.

Lance's determination to clear himself and bring the real murderer to justice endangers his own life. Tony insists that Lance, who is very sick, check into a hospital. However, Lance, despite the poison coursing through his veins, brings Nurse Chadway to justice. Richard assists the daughter of an old friend and becomes involved in helping her save her ball team. Angela tries to destroy Melissa's new vineyards. Richard asks Maggie to marry him.

Upset with Richard's involvement with Liz and unable to make a decision about his proposal, Maggie leaves the Tuscany Valley to join Vicky in Monte Carlo. While a mysterious and eerie assassin figure stalks Liz, Maggie resents her reliance on Richard's protection. After Melissa gets even with Angela, Angela retaliates with a scheme that boomerangs. Maggie enters her new wine in a contest and wins second place. Angela discovers that Dan's father has a second family. After Lance rescues Emma from her would-be producers, she starts writing an advice column for The New Globe.

When Maggie returns to the valley with Vickie and Eric, she learns that Richard and Liz have been traveling together. Eric realizes that his gambling debts are following him and that he must pay more than money to escape them. When Melissa starts to experience strange phenomena due to Angela's hired illusionist Foster Glenn, Melissa's world begins to fall apart. Emma's success as a columnist disturbs Angela, who goes to Father Bob for advice about her family.