Mariah Murphy, the young black girl Brandon met in Texas ('Remember the Alamo'), who's now an aspiring writer, arrives in Los Angeles for a visit and her quick kinship with Kelly bothers Tracy. Meanwhile, Rob's new movie is released, which earns great recognition for his performance, but bad reviews for whole movie which makes Rob wonder if the movie business is really for him. Valerie worries that she'll lose Rob when he tells her that he wants to quit the entertainment business and move back to his hometown. Clare has a crisis when her computer breaks down while she's writing a term paper, which leaves her no time for Steve, who goes to Rob's movie premiere solo. Also, David goes nuts trying to plan a special anniversary dinner for Donna.

A doctor asks Valerie to be screened to be a bone-marrow donor for an ailing leukemia patient. Valerie is delighted with the idea, but she soon reneges with she finds out that the patient sexually abused his teenage daughter. Meanwhile, Donna becomes jealous and suspicious when an old girlfriend of Noah's, Gwyneth, shows up for a visit. David lets his paranoia go too far when he gets mugged. He tries to buy a gun, and eventually steals Noah's gun, accidentally wounding Gwyneth. Kelly continues to be suspicious of Brandon until he offers her an engagement ring. Also, Steve, Brandon and Janet screen applicants for a new assistant for their newspaper. When a young college grad student, Sarah, responds to the call, Steve is wary of hiring her, anxious that he will fall in love with her.

Kelly and Brandon deal with the aftermath of their decision to not marry that becomes increasingly strained for both of them. Meanwhile, David urges Valerie toward a kinder, gentler demeanor after her HIV test comes back. Valerie encourages David to demand to write a music score for Glen King, David goes along with it... and gets fired for it. Steve has eyes for a new woman in town: an ambitious actress and con artist named Sophie Burns, whom she charms Steve into letting her stay at the Walsh house, but she has eyes for David instead. Also, Donna meddles in Noah's family affairs by insisting they have dinner with his estranged parents. But problems further arise when Noah learns that his father is about to be indicted for income tax evasion as well as questionable business deals.