Julia enters prison where she meets up with a tough matron who has a personal vendetta against the Channings, while Angela works to get her sentence commuted. After making love, Melissa offers the Agretti harvest to Richard, which he eagerly accepts in order to keep it from Angela. In Jacqueline's will, she has left fifty million dollars to be split between Chase and his brother, but, only if after one year, Chase believes Richard to be trustworthy. This reveals the motive for Richard's brotherly actions. Jacqueline also leaves Angela a hotel suite key with instructions that Philip must accompany her there. Jacqueline has the last laugh when Angela finds an unmade bed with a note from Jacqueline stating that she and Philip made love at that very spot.

Julia breaks down to beg Angela for protection against the ruthless inmates and prison matron who are out to kill her. Angela pays the matron off to make things easier on Julia. Maggie uncovers evidence that Dr. Lantry's paychecks are supplemented by a mysterious and handsome additional income. Dr. Lantry is feeling the heat from Chase and Michael's investigation into his competency and ethics as a doctor. Afraid of being implicated by Lantry, Angela threatens Dr. Hooks into dropping any inquiries. Maggie's sister, Terry Hartford, discovers that Maggie has become wealthy and heads for Falcon Crest.

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.

Lance calls Falcon Crest to get bailed out, but Angela grabs the phone and tells him that he can rot in jail. Ralph Delaney arrives and says that The New Globe will pay Lance's bail. Richard wants Maggie to do a story on Lance and exploit his situation. When Lorraine hears this, she is furious and accuses Richard of slanting the news. Chase tightens security at home and purchases a gun. He learns from Herb Boutilier in Washington, D.C. that Ben never worked for the government and receives a phone call warning him to stop looking for Ben. Charlotte and her old gambling partner meet and begin to lose money at the track. Richard sends Joel to a drug rehabilitation center in order to get him away from Terry. Although Lance insists he was framed, Angela refuses to believe him, and he is again disinherited. Lance moves in with Lorraine at the Tuscany Inn.

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.

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.

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.

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 a frantic effort to save her empire, Angela Channing calls on the expertise, wealth and influence of an old friend, Peter Stavros. After Maggie questions Richard Channing about their relationship before the explosion, she moves to an isolated cabin to reassemble her life. Father Christopher takes interest in the vineyards' field workers, which antagonizes Melissa and distresses Angela. Melissa later has to turn to him when her home life proves unbearable. In a meeting with Cassandra and Anna, Peter Stavros makes them his first offer for the purchase of Falcon Crest. Angela is forced into telling Father Christopher the truth about his background.

When Chase tries to help Maggie regain her memory, she rebuffs his advances, reminding him that she doesn't remember him or their marriage. Peter Stavros asks Angela to marry him, but she can only think about saving Falcon Crest at the moment. As Father Christopher gets to know his family, Angela and Greg use him as proof that Anna had a motive to kill Dominic. Unnerved, Anna sneaks into Angela's bedroom and sets it ablaze. When Richard is shot at, he escapes injury because he wears a bulletproof vest. Jordan and Richard create a plan with Richard as the target that will draw out the assailant. Lance continues his reckless and despondent behavior.

Without Angela's knowledge, Lance trades his interest in The New Globe for Richard Channing's radio station to have a showcase for Apollonia's singing career. Angela tries unsuccessfully to buy Terry's land and in retaliation goads Terry into investing in Tuscany Downs. Angela then persuades the Board of Supervisors to approve a new irrigation system, which would place the land on which Chase is working under water. As Maggie is recovering, she tells Angela off. In the meantime, Peter pushes Angela to set a date for their wedding. Father Christopher makes peace between Melissa, Cole and Robin, but Melissa gives him reason to worry when she tells him she doesn't love Cole anymore. At a honky-tonk, where Lance has arranged for Apollonia to demonstrate her singing, Emma meets a dashing truck driver named Dwayne.

When the guilt from her father's death creates strange nightmares for Jordan Roberts, she looks to Greg Reardon for solace, but develops a split personality to hide from reality. Dwayne brings Emma home from the hospital and baits Angela. Lance leaves for Europe to continue his search for Peter Stavros. When Robin consults Angela for help in keeping her daughter, Angela is delighted at the opportunity to strike back at Melissa. Chase and Richard Channing make an agreement to work together and challenge Angela by opening Terry's winery.