Eugene starts gambling online and racks up a huge debt. He decides to keep it a secret, but when Silk finds out, he tells the Coach. Meanwhile, Kristy has a dental problem (and a ""hump"" on her back- an ice pack) that makes it difficult to speak. She's supposed to be interviewed by Stanford University, so she has Mary Beth take her place.

When a favourite teacher at Deering High School encourages the students to rebel against a newly enforced dress code, they gain victory, but their teacher is sacked. At their next big basketball game, the media are around and the team see their perfect opportunity to stage a sit-in. They get their point across but eventually Coach convinces everyone to get up and play the game - except Julie and Silk, who decide to boycott the match unless their teacher is rehired, or at least is given a good reason for being sacked. Eventually it is revealed that the teacher was fired because the board thought that he was getting too old to teach, and they'd taken this opportunity to let him go.

Silk's aunt is a singer in a gospel choir, in which Silk himself also sings. At first he keeps it a secret from the others, but they find out and everyone gets along really well with his Aunt Charlotte, who is a great basketball player! However she gets very sick, and although Silk prays really hard, she dies. He begins to lose his faith, but his Aunt appears to him and tells him to keep believing. Meanwhile, Mary Beth and Coach Katowinski both compete in a fundraising competition where the person who can stay for the longest time inside a VW Beetle wins it.

When Coach tells Julie to toughen up for Deering's upcoming big game against Montrose, she rises to the challenge. However her excellent defense lands Montrose's star player, Dave Carter, who was destined for the NBA next year, in hospital with a serious injury. Julie loses her confidence and gets benched for the next game. She visits Dave in the hospital and he assures her that he doesn't hold her responsible for his injury. Meanwhile, Mary Beth and Kristy have problems of their own when an ATM spews $1000 out when Kristy asked it for $20. The bank had no record of their mistake and didn't want the money back, so the girls go shopping. However they began to have bad luck after keeping the cash.

Silk receives a basketball scholarship from Temple University. At first he's psyched about the opportunity to go to Temple. However, after losing a game against two of Temple's players, Silk worries that he won't be able to keep his grades up and be a successful player against the competition in college. Meanwhile, fed up with getting rides from their parents, Julie and Kristy decide to buy a car together. But after constantly arguing with each other over their car, Julie and Kristy's friendship starts to get a little strained.

Mary Beth finds out that Hammer is finished with Duke after dropping out. He decides that he'd like to attend UCLA with Mary Beth and Kristy. However, he can't get accepted, forcing Mary Beth to choose between Hammer and Kristy. Meanwhile, the guys take Coach Katowinski's dog, Killer, for a walk but accidentally lose him in the mall, where he's picked up by an Adopt-A-Pet volunteer.

While working on an article for the school paper, Mary Beth meets a guy that asks her out. Things go great until he wants more from her than she's okay with. Meanwhile, two girls try to sabotage Eugene and Silk's game.

Though the team is nearing the conclusion of an undefeated season, Coach is concerned that their playing has become tentative and that they fear losing more than they desire to win. He tries to get them to remember what it was like when they played basketball for fun. Also, Julie gets accepted by the University of Connecticut.

The gang work on setting up the gym for the prom. However, they run into problem after problem. The girls lose the prom money and later end up wearing the same dress the actual night of the prom. Also, Mary Beth and Silk end up with horrible dates, while Eugene still tries to find the right date. But the worst problem of all is when a tornado hits the Deering area.

In this clip show, Mary Beth and Kristy work on their final journalism project to capture the most important things that they learned in high school. They interview the rest of the gang, discussing the best and worst moments during their time spent at Deering.

The gang prepare to take a final glance at their time spent at Deering over the years. Everyone is emotional, especially Kristy who is worried that after they graduate, they'll never see each other again.