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.

Angela interferes in the lives of Chase, Richard, Maggie, Vickie and Dan. Vickie and Dan's romance is complicated by Angela's peculiar moral code. When Angela accuses Richard of fathering Maggie's expected child, her manipulations make Chase's altruistic defense of troubled vineyard owners seem like a play for personal gain, which puts a wedge in his relationship with Gabrielle. Melissa's troubled behavior brings a closer understanding between Lance and Tony. Peter plans to win Angela back and break Richard at the same time, while Richard thinks Kit Marlowe can be played to bring Peter to his side.

When Maggie prematurely gives birth to her baby at Falcon Crest, Angela conspires with rich newcomer Roland Saunders in her plans to destroy Richard. Angela finds a kindred spirit in Saunders, ""the rudest billionaire in the Fortune 500."" When Richard offers to sign the birth certificate of Maggie's baby, Chase surprises them by signing it himself. The idea of the new baby troubles Emma. Lance questions his father about Kolinski, while Tony has to lie to his son to protect Kit. During Angela's international wine show at the spa, the matron of Falcon Crest arrives with Saunders, and Peter disapproves.

Peter threatens Angela and Roland Saunders as he tries to discover their connection to Kit Marlowe. Due to Angela's interest in Maggie's baby, Maggie concludes that she must give the baby up for adoption if the child is to lead a decent life. After Maggie refuses to allow Emma and Karlotti have her child, the two instead apply to adopt a child. While Angela plans Dan and Vickie's engagement party, she promises to give them a vineyard. Peter forces Tony to tell him about Kit. After Chase makes Gabrielle a proposition, he offers Lance a partnership with him and Tony. Angela plans to solve the mystery of Kit Marlowe.

At Angela's engagement party for them, Vicky and Dan set the tone of the party by trying to avoid it. After Kit demonstrates a need to tell Tony good-bye, both Richard and Peter confront Saunders. Maggie arrives looking for her baby, which she now knows is Chase's. After Emma confounds Angela by introducing her adopted son, one of the guests is found dead in the winery.

As Tony begins to mistrust Kit, Angela ensnares Melissa, and Richard attempts to console Maggie. Richard plans a trip for Maggie to overcome her melancholy, but a ghost from the past interrupts. Melissa's secret world tumbles when Angela finds out about it. Chase decides to file for a divorce. Tony suspects that Kit Marlowe may have used him in order to remove suspicion from her. Angela offers Dan a new job. Lance offers hope to Chao-Li. Although Emma traps Karlotti with plans for a church wedding, her offer of community property turns him from a man in hot water to one who has just struck the mother lode.

Angela learns the truth about her supposedly deceased child. The car chase has endangered Melissa, Chase, Richard, Dan and Maggie's lives. After taking a disastrous fall, Chao-Li lies at the foot of the stairs. Emma, frustrated with her mother's meddling, stands high above Falcon Crest and threatens to jump.

Upset with Richard's involvement with Liz and unable to make a decision about his proposal, Maggie leaves the Tuscany Valley to join Vicky in Monte Carlo. While a mysterious and eerie assassin figure stalks Liz, Maggie resents her reliance on Richard's protection. After Melissa gets even with Angela, Angela retaliates with a scheme that boomerangs. Maggie enters her new wine in a contest and wins second place. Angela discovers that Dan's father has a second family. After Lance rescues Emma from her would-be producers, she starts writing an advice column for The New Globe.

After Vicky vanishes from Angela's party, Richard and Eric frantically search for her. After Dan is surprised by the arrival of a half-sister whom he didn't know he had, he puts her to work in the grape fields. Shannon tries to leave the valley after Lance questions her. Melissa is able to deflect Angela's scheme to get her committed so that Angela instead loses her hold on Dan. Angela succeeds in prying into Maggie's affairs.

Maggie and Richard decide to try again, while Angela proves uncharacteristically supportive. When Lance moves back into the manor house, Angela joyfully greets him with the news that Carly will be staying for a few days. In a misguided attempt to help Emma, Curtis digs dirt on Richard. At Lance's instigation, Melissa enters into an elaborate masquerade to rescue Emma. In his effort to break the codicil to Chase's will, Richard enrolls some dangerous assistance. When Gabrielle returns to the valley on the anniversary of Chase's death, she gives Maggie some hopeful news.