At Falcon Crest, Lance is dumbfounded when he sees Julia appear on the stairs. Greg and Angela manage to persuade Judge Leeds to transfer Julia's sentence to a convent in Oregon. Meanwhile, Angela plans to buy Sam Giannini's estate. Richard meets Cassandra Wilder, who attracts both Richard and his advertising account for Francesca wine. Greg continues to pursue Melissa until the day of the wedding. Dr. Mitchell informs Melissa that her auto accident has rendered her unable to bear any more children and Melissa fails to build the courage to tell Cole, who wants more children. However, Cole learns this in the worst possible way, through Angela. Feeling that Melissa has deceived him, Cole decides at the last minute that he cannot go through with the wedding and abandons Melissa at the altar in tears.

Melissa confronts Angela when she realizes that Angela had provoked Cole into walking out on their wedding. Although Melissa tries to seek comfort with Greg, she cannot put Cole out of her mind. After arguing with Melissa, Cole swallows his pride, reunites with her and marries her in a meadow in a small private ceremony. Lance proposes to Lorraine and surprisingly receives Angela's support. Unfortunately, Judge Holder has denied a change of venue for Lance's trial. Before Lorraine has a chance to discuss her pregnancy and engagement with Richard, Angela deviously provides him with the information. In turn, Richard confronts Lorraine, who begs him to be happy for her. Instead, Richard throws her out of the house, telling her that, as far as he's concerned, she is dead.

Greg coaches Lance on his trial testimony as they nervously wait to hear whether the trial will be postponed. Cole and Melissa happily honeymoon in Tahiti. Chase convinces Connie Giannini to keep the land she inherited upon her mother's death rather than sell it to Angela. At KRDC, Pamela advises Richard not to reject Lorraine just when she really needs him. When Richard resists Lorraine's attempt to reconcile, she has no choice but to remain at Falcon Crest, where she is quickly learning that Angela cares only about heirs. The next day at breakfast, Greg soberly announces to the family that the trial extension was denied. Horrified, Lance and Lorraine realize that he will go on trial that Monday.

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.

Cole battles with Connie, resenting her interference in his champagne operation. However, Chase convinces her to stay on, not realizing she is thrilled to be working near him. In court, after the foreman announces that the jury cannot reach a verdict in Lance's case, Judge Holder orders the jury to deliberate again. After Maggie observes Richard and Holder meeting in the parking lot, she becomes determined to discover if they are conspiring against Lance. While Melissa fears the outcome if anyone discovers that she was responsible for Lance's arrest, her cousin Robin sees Melissa's search for a surrogate mother as the perfect opportunity to move closer to Cole. Cassandra and Damon use Richard and Cole to further establish themselves at Falcon Crest. After the foreman reads the verdict, Lance and his family hear Judge Holder sentence him to seven years in state prison.

Angela takes advantage of Lance's conviction to assume his job as publisher of The New Globe. Richard provokes Lance into a fight at a restaurant, forcing Lance into hiding to avoid being returned to custody. Angela realizes that if Falcon Crest expands to accommodate a contract with Helios Foods, Richard and Chase will fall heavily into debt, and she will once again be the sole owner of the wine empire. She pushes them to agree to bid on the contract. Maggie prefers that Chase sell out and get away from Angela, but he refuses. Cassandra and Damon push the Helios deal to advance their own plans for a takeover. Late that night, Robin tries to seduce Cole with the idea that they could give Melissa the child she wants.

Richard and Chase decide to go along with Angela and bid on the Helios deal. Chase looks to Maggie for support in his decision not to sell out, but she offers none. Melissa reluctantly pays Pamela $100,000 to keep silent about the hiring of Joel McCarthy to frame Lance. Terry not only confesses her past connections with Joel to Greg, but also tells Greg where to find him. Moreover, Terry suspects that it was Joel who ran Angela off the road. When Emma and Lorraine team up against Angela to find Lance, they discover that Angela and Chao-Li have him hidden in Chinatown. Angela's wicked plan to break up the Gioberti marriage unfolds when she offers Maggie the position of acting publisher for The Globe. Chase vehemently objects to the idea, but Maggie welcomes the challenge.

At the winery, Chase joins Connie and hugs her, announcing that he has received the loan necessary to bid with Angela. However, Connie's former suitor, Larry Michaelson, could threaten the bank deal. Cole realizes that Connie may be a threat of another kind. Greg hunts for Joel McCarthy and finds that he died at Camp Mary Jane of a drug overdose. He confronts Richard with his suspicions about Lance's framing, hoping he can force him to reveal his involvement. In Chinatown, Lance insists that Lorraine be included in Angela's plans to send him to Italy, and she makes the arrangements for them to meet at the boat. Pamela warns Angela that Richard and the police are on their way to Lance's hideout and Lance manages to escape. When Lorraine arrives and discovers that Lance is already gone, she rushes to the fire escape before her stepfather can detain her, and in a hurry, slips and plummets two stories to the street.

Lance ardently resists Angela's orders to board the ship until he gets an answer to why Lorraine is not there. Telephoning Falcon Crest, Lance learns that Lorraine is in the hospital, where she lies in a coma. Risking everything, he speeds off in Angela's car to see her. Lance is recognized at the hospital, but gets a chance to see Lorraine and encourages her to keep fighting before two policemen take him away. Awakening from her coma the next day, Lorraine begs Richard to get Lance out of jail. On a tip from a Turf Club bartender, Greg digs up the proof needed to convict Melissa. He confronts her, insisting she turn herself in within 48 hours. Cole is once again kept in the dark as to his wife's dealings. He receives shocking news about his own past actions, however, when Melissa's cousin, Robin, arrives again at their doorstep.

In the hospital, Lorraine, depressed, misses Lance and laments her lost baby. In his jail cell, Lance reveals to Angela his fears about Lorraine's survival. Angela reassures him and promises that Greg is working on freeing him. At The New Globe, Pamela hands Maggie a cassette, explaining that Richard had taped all his conversations, and she had decided to validate his mistrust in her. When Maggie and Greg play the tape, they hear Richard and Judge Holder plot against Lance. Melissa breaks the news to Cole that she hired Joel McCarthy to frame Lance. Cole strikes back by informing her that her surrogate mother idea worked because Robin is pregnant. Due to the overwhelming evidence against him, Judge Holder is forced to release Lance. Ecstatic, Lance rushes to the hospital, where a judge marries him and Lorraine.

Angela's scheme to regain control of Falcon Crest falls through when she assumes Chase and Richard will be bankrupt after a competitor wins the Helios bid. However, she is unaware that Cassandra Wilder holds the liens on their shares. Cassandra's mother, Anna Rossini, has come for long-awaited vengeance against Angela, now that her daughter owns two-thirds of Falcon Crest. At the winery, Connie offers to make Chase a partner in Giannini Winery. Maggie walks in and catches them in a celebratory embrace. Enraged, she announces she will be moving out that evening. Angela testifies on Melissa's behalf, which gives her a lenient sentence of 60 days in jail, in return for the Agretti harvest. As Lorraine's condition deteriorates rapidly due to brain damage, Lance must sign the release to remove her from life-support systems. As Maggie and Richard comfort each other that evening, an explosion rips through his house, trapping them.