Happy-go-lucky party animal Chris wakes up one morning with a hangover and an erection. Nothing unusual there. Until he discovers a grand in cash and a note from his mum saying she's gone away. So, like any not-so-average pill-popping 17-year-old, Chris embarks on a bender to end all benders. But what do you do after you've thrown the mother of all parties and blown all the money? Well, you sell everything that isn't nailed down and go again--and just hope that everything else will start to make sense. But sometimes, life can make a little more sense than you want it to, and Chris must face the fact that his mum might never be coming home.

Six months have elapsed and Cassie has moved to Scotland, leaving Sid upset. Tony is still having mood swings and blackouts following his accident and, since his mother is suffering from depression, Effy takes over the reins of the household. Maxxie is having problems with local homophobes and his father's refusal to let him become a dancer but agrees to help Tony.

Hoping for a night of wild abandon, Cook invites everybody to his birthday party at his uncle's pub but the party collapses after Effy's friend Pandora throws up. Cook manages to persuade everyone to gate-crash a party being thrown to celebrate the engagement of a girl called Kayleigh, but he falls foul of her father John White, a drugs baron to Madame Greta's brothel; he again encounters John White and a fight ensues and White threatens to kill Cook if he sees him again.

Freddie's sister Karen is entering the Next SexBomb contest but he disapproves of her trying to win the sympathy vote because their mother is dead. JJ tells him Cook wants to see him but he is tired of doing what Cook wants and goes to see Effy to reveal his feelings though she rejects him. Despite having turned their shed into a dance studio,Karen loses the contest,thanks to Cook persuading the local pub customers to vote against her. Freddie decides he will definitely explain to Effy how he feels about her but finds she is with Cook.