Chase and Maggie post Cole's bail, and Cole starts working part-time at the vineyard of a stunningly beautiful single mother, Katherine Demery. Richard's newspaper expose of workers' conditions at Falcon Crest leads Chase to publicly commit to higher wages and benefits for the workers, as well as changes in local labor laws. Lance agrees to take Melissa to child-birthing classes but refuses to attend, opting instead to spend time with Lori Stevens, his former girlfriend. Melissa is jealous of Katherine's attractiveness, and later Cole and Katherine's working relationship turns romantic. Richard tells his reporter, Blair, that he wants Cole convicted.

Richard schemes to buy a piece of county property earmarked for a park, on which he plans to build a memorial to Douglas Channing on one small part and plant a vineyard on the rest. While Chase vehemently opposes the plan, Richard plants a bomb in Nick's truck and successfully intimidates Nick to vote his way at the board of supervisors meeting. Leaving her prescribed bed rest in order to win Cole back from Katherine Demery, Melissa collapses and is taken to the hospital, where she delivers an unhealthy, premature baby, whom she names Joseph Angelo Cumson, after Lance's great-great-grandfather. After Cole moves out of Katherine Demery's house, he moves back into his parents' house.