The banning of Jodie's incendiary rap song sparks a freedom-of-speech revolt among the students. Nick, Rose and Jodie lead their fellow students in a strike and Deloraine counters with the threat of suspensions for all those involved. The dispute is amicably settled with everyone getting their demands met — except for Con who doesn't get the soccer team he wanted, he does however get Danielle and Steve back together in time for Valentine's Day.

Verbal and physical harassment over a misconstrued encounter with a young student causes Graham to have doubts about continuing to teach at Hartley. Chaka's father speaks to the students about oppression and violence. Chaka makes the difficult decision about whether to remain at Hartley or move north to Darwin with her family.

A phantom blader plays a cat-and-mouse game with Southgate after the acting principal bans inline skating at Hartley; tensions are palpable among members of the gang. Jack's grades earn him an invitation to attend a selective highschool.

Another face from the past Katerina is back in Australia and moves straight toward Rivers

A decline in enrolment applications threatens to permanently close the doors of Hartley High unless the additional students can be found. Deloraine suffers has a mild heart attack and is admitted to hospital. Meanwhile, Sam turns down Andrew's proposal and soon finds herself back with Peter and the two run away together. The kids launch a campaign to save school and just when it appears they have failed, Jodie returns and delivers a passionate speech that pushes the campaign over the top.