The tree hill gang must learn that to live an exceptional life doesn't end once you've achieved your goals. With Lucas and Peyton gone, Nathan's a year into his NBA career, Haley has taken over Red Bedroom Records, and has to deal with the return of her free-spirited 26 year-old sister, Quinn. Brooke is still happy with Julian.

Brooke looks for a model as the new face of Clothes Over Bros. Mia and Haley fall short of selling a million records. Dan finds a confidant in an unlikely person. Nathan deals with being distant from the ones he loves, while Clayton reminds him he's in the NBA. Tree Hill's former bad girl - Rachel Gatina returns.

A disgruntled Renee makes her pregnancy known in the national media. Quinn tells David that she wants a divorce and spends the night with Clay. Mouth quits his job at the station after he is forced to report on the scandal surrounding Nathan. Brooke's fashion show is a huge success but Victoria warns her about Alex and Alex's obvious designs on Julian.

Renee presses charges and has Haley arrested and thrown in Jail. Clay and Quinn grow close much to Nathan's distaste. Elsewhere, after a false start Julian and Alex begin to work on her script.

Haley returns to the stage much to Miranda's annoyance but the gig turns out to be a success and changes Miranda's attitude somewhat. Brooke believes she might be pregnant but is conflicted on how Julian will take the news - but the test proves negative. Julian finishes the script with Alex and heads out to be with Brooke at Haley's gig but gets a call from Alex telling him she's close to taking cocaine again so he goes to her much to Brooke's annoyance. Rachel and Dan arrive back in Tree Hill but his hoped reconciliation with Nathan doesn't materialize. But Dan isn't going anywhere. Mouth meets Rachel and tells her to try and reconcile her differences with Brooke but Brooke isn't having it. Mouth and Brooke are both concerned and angry with Millicent who's desperation to be liked by the public is putting her in a downward spiral. Elsewhere, Clay's hardball tactics with the Charlotte Bobcats and Nathan's contract fail when they sign another player to fill Nathan's spot. What will Nathan do now?

Victoria bails Millicent out of jail the morning after her arrest and tells her to get herself together before she shows herself again. But Victoria is doubtful that Millicent has learned her lesson and proceeds to keep an eye on her and she is proved correct when Millicent steals a dress from Brooke's new collection to give to her model friend Makenna is exchange for a packet of blow. Mouth is distraught at the change in Millicent and they break up. Clay tries in vain to hold onto his one client but it is not to be and so he packs up his apartment much to Quinn's dismay. Nathan is told by his agents that he won't play NBA this season and his only option is to play in Spain and be ready for the next season but this move coincides with Haley's planned record tour of the US. Skills records a video with the help of Jamie for a new job in L.A. Elsewhere, Julian mistakenly tells Alex that Brooke cannot have children which further deepens the rift between Brooke and Julian after Alex tries in her own way to help Brooke. Despondent after being told to stay away from Julian Alex slits her wrists in the bath and leaves Julian a voice-mail telling him she won't bother him anymore.

Clay gets his mojo back with some help from Quinn and which might mean that Nathan can stay in the US and play in the NBA with the his old team the Charlotte Bobcats instead of going to Spain. Skills gets offered and takes the job in Los Angeles and brings Mouth along for the ride. Dan goes against Rachel on his television show and tells his audience that this is his last show and also serves with divorce papers. Julian rescues Alex from her near suicide bid and tells her the film deal is back on. Brooke fires Millicent from her model contract and tells her to get immediate help for her drug problem but her stay in rehab is brief. Victoria hires a new designer, Alexander Coin, for the menswear collection without telling Brooke.

Haley, Quinn and Taylor receive a surprise visit from their mom Lydia who tells them that she has incurable pancreatic cancer and that she is not seeking any further treatment. Quinn takes the news very hard but Clay is there to support her. Meanwhile, Alex sets her sights on Alexander as Brooke and Julian try to get their old relationship back on track, and Millicent finds herself struggling with temptation.

Haley and Quinn refuse to accept that their mom Lydia will not fight her pancreatic cancer and after some convincing manages to persuade her mother to get a second opinion with Nathan's doctor but the results don't bring any change. Because she told Jamie that she won't be alive for Christmas he organizes for her to have Christmas now with the family. Meanwhile, Brooke and Julian's relationship moves up a notch but comes crashing down spectacularly when Brooke finds Alex in his bed but is it what it seems? Elsewhere, Grubbs puts Miranda through hoops before he allows her to produce his album with her and Owen Morello comes back into Millie's life much to Mouth's displeasure.

Quinn's gallery opens with Clay very supportive unaware that he is being stalked by Sara lookalike Katie until she makes her presence known and Clay shows Quinn how alike Katie is to Sara. Josh's sex tape with Alex is emailed to Julian's father with a demand for $1,000,000 putting the film in jeopardy. Miranda finds out she is being deported thus putting a spanner in the works with Grubbs's recording but Grubbs finds a way around it by proposing to her. Lauren tells Skills that she has fallen for someone else but he is unaware it is his best friend Mouth until he sees a photo of them at the gallery where he promptly punches Mouth. Meanwhile, Victoria's affair with Alexander is exposed in more than one way. Elsewhere, Nathan and Jamie spend a guys evening together & later he asks Haley if she'd be ready to try for another baby. She tells him she took a pregnancy test and it was negative but is she telling him the whole story?

Nathan and Haley struggle with the aftermath of her mother's death, while Brooke deals with the fallout of Alexander's tryst with Victoria. Alex discovers a secret about her leading man, Josh, that could derail Julian's film, and Quinn is confronted by an unhinged Katie.

Quinn takes Jamie on a treasure hunt as an increasingly despondent Haley further withdraws from both Nathan and Jamie. Katie invades Clay's personal space convinced that she is his dead wife Sara. Clay plays along until he manages to have her committed. Mia breaks up with Chase by text and then comes back to Tree Hill to manage a heart-broken Grubbs after Miranda leaves. Julian shows his film to a delighted Brooke as he anxiously awaits confirmation on whether his indie film will be bought by a film festival.