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 the manor house is torched, Lance saves Angela and Emma. Cassandra realizes her mother is the culprit in both fires. Because Maggie still suffers from amnesia, Chase suggests they renew their marriage vows with a second wedding. On the big day, Angela pours her own brand of vitriol on the ceremony by mentioning Chase's relationship with Connie Giannini. As Richard's would-be assassin tries again, he is caught. Father Christopher discovers some hard facts of life from Lance and Melissa. When Lance rescues a cocktail hostess, he learns that she is an aspiring singer and offers to help her career. Not realizing that Peter and Angela are intimately involved, Cassandra sells Falcon Crest to Peter.

When Angela discovers that Lance has shifted from publisher to rock radio impresario, she expels him from the mansion. After an all-night tryst in Dwayne's truck, Emma returns home to Angela. Peter's attentions finally make an impression on Angela, and she begins to take his marriage proposal seriously. Although Richard Channing and Cassandra Wilder mistrust one another, they plan a new beginning. Melissa tries to tell Father Christopher about her feelings for him. In a plan to save their land, Chase and Maggie enlist the help of Sheriff Gilmore, Terry and Wicker.

When Angela directs Lance to bribe the pickers not to pick Chase's grapes, Lance takes Father Christopher along to show him how deviously their grandmother Angela operates. Disgusted with her tactics, Christopher confronts her. After Chase discovers Angela's ruse in time to save his own harvest, he turns the tables on Angela. After signing a pre-nuptial agreement, which gives the groom the advantage, Richard Channing and Terry are married. As Apollonia embarks on her tour, Emma persuades Lance to follow her. The J.J Roberts fund-raiser at Falcon Crest is a huge success. Afterward, Jordan's mother uncovers the reason Jordan despises her father when Greg discovers Jordan working at a halfway house for abused girls. Peter Stavros's daughter tries to retrieve her father's briefcase from Angela. After Cole and Melissa pay Robin her money, Robin disappears with the baby.

Before Sheriff Gilmore can serve a warrant for Angela's arrest, she disappears. Dwayne, concerned for Emma, alerts the Falcon Crest residents that Angela is about to be arrested for planning the hijacking of Chase's wine shipment. When the Sheriff arrives, he cannot find Angela and Peter. After Robin takes Hope from Melissa and Cole, Cole moves home. Jeff pursues Maggie across the country. Richard and Chase disagree on methods of acquiring more vineyards. After Jordan requests Greg's help, Terry hires a detective to spy on her. Peter returns with Angela's power of attorney to run Falcon Crest and Lance makes a discovery about his grandmother's disappearance.

When Angela returns and discovers the havoc Peter has wrought during her absence, she vows to take vengeance on him. Before Angela's return, Reardon gets a temporary injunction to stay Peter's hand at Falcon Crest, but it is too late. Peter has disappeared, and so has Angela's $30 million. Richard not only discovers that Jordan has been revealing his financial problems to Terry, but also that Peter Stavros has purchased the mortgage on Tuscany Downs. Determined to win Maggie's attention, Jeff follows her to the Tuscany Valley after her tour concludes. In order to avoid being forced into selling her wine harvest to Falcon Crest, Melissa tries to convince Eric to form a partnership with her.

Angela marries Peter after discovering he took her $30 million to keep her from being prosecuted for arranging the hijacking of Chase's wine. Although Angela turns herself in to Sheriff Gilmore, she has to serve time in jail until the $50,000 bail can be paid. While Jordan seeks help for Maggie's problem but refuses to continue with her therapy, Jeff's appearance in the valley disturbs Maggie. Angela discovers that Peter has made her Richard Channing's partner in Tuscany Downs. Angela is not only dismayed to find that Dwayne has moved into her house, but also finds Lance and Jordan sharing a bed at Falcon Crest.

Preparing to disappear, Kit, with Stafford advising her, lays the groundwork to make her fake suicide plausible and realizes that she will sever many important ties. Angela has a dinner party for Peter's birthday. Seeking help for her troubled marriage, Melissa looks in the wrong places. Maggie discovers that her baby may be born with problems and turns Chase away when he fails to understand her feelings. Meredith hires her former supervisor to rescue Erin Jones, while Angela offers Vicky a new job at the spa.

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.

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.