The gang's plan to buy their new house is upended when Liz runs into her ex-husband and his girlfriend.

Heather tries to stay calm when she receives a workplace bullying complaint - but fails and blows up her entire career.

When Ainsley innocently asks the house about their thoughts on private schools, all the fault lines are exposed.

Flailing in his open relationship, Harry leaves a string of deeply regrettable voicemail messages on his boyfriend's phone.

The existence of the house is under threat when a housemate decides to move out and the gang discovers that replacing them is virtually impossible.

Following her UK success, Liz is being wooed by the creme-de-la-creme of law firms, including the former boss, who brutally fired her. He now wants to hold a soiree in her honor to offer her partner.

Heather's in a funk, hitting peak mediocrity, just tolerating Ben. Desperate for a circuit breaker, she accidentally sets Ainsley and Harry on a mission to get her back on the dating scene.

Harry finds himself charged with organizing Ainsley's questionably-themed 'white-party' Hens, and Simmo's 'fire-on-the-land' Bucks.

Hosted by Harry, Manju is already somewhat sullen at her seventieth birthday gathering, when an errant comment subsequently leads to that sullenness turning to belligerence specifically toward Harry. Manju, being her manipulative self, makes a pronouncement intended to make Harry feel guilty enough to apologize, that pronouncement which Harry doesn't believe she will carry out to its end, Harry in turn calling her bluff. Feeling like he has perhaps gone too far, he is convinced by Heather to double down on that bluff or else have her know that she will always be able to manipulate him. With those plays going into night leading to both Harry and Manju having little to no sleep, something happens in the morning to change the face of their standoff. Meanwhile, Stuart is on his way back to Melbourne on a business trip, Liz who, on their last telephone call, stating that they need to talk in Stuart's belief that she had an affair. Liz has to decide exactly how she is going to broach the topic of the "issue" with him. And Ben is finally going on a date about which Ainsley discovers. It isn't so much that he has this date, which he doesn't see as such, but who the date is with. Regardless, Ainsley in particular has to decide if or what to tell Heather.

With the exception of if she doesn't survive the surgery, there is much pressure for Harry to move back in with Manju following her radical hysterectomy to provide her with her necessary care. However, Liz, without even telling Harry, takes it upon herself to convince the somewhat reluctant housemates for Manju to move in temporarily with them, Liz's motives solely to ease her conscience about throwing Harry under the bus with regard to Stuart and deflect attention away from having not being totally forthright with Stuart about her marital indiscretion. In addition to discovering a secret Manju has been hiding, Liz will discover whether her self-directed penance is something to which she can adhere, while Harry has to deal with what ends up being Manju's martyrdom to inflict more guilt on him. Meanwhile, Mel does whatever she can to move her and Ben's "mates only" relationship into the sexual realm. Mel's presence in the house as that predator not only has an effect on Heather, but on Ainsley as well.

Ainsley receives news from a more distraught than usual Cheryl that Des has passed away. In Ainsley's priority of being the nurturer and despite her feelings about Cheryl, Ainsley decides to invite her to stay in the house for however long she needs while she is in town to deal with Des' affairs, and in support for "family". Ainsley also issues the directive that no one is to tell Manju about Des in Ainsley not wanting to burden her with more bad news considering her health, hiding it from her which may be difficult especially due to Cheryl's boisterousness. Of everyone in the house, Ainsley seems the least emotionally affected by Des' death, outwardly due to that nurturing taking priority, but inwardly due to her confusing relationship with her father, that confusion especially since Cheryl came into the picture intimately which was even before Ainsley's mother's passing. The situation gets even more confusing for Ainsley shortly after Cheryl's arrival, the specific stressor which Ainsley will have to deal with both emotionally and legally. Meanwhile, Ainsley's decisions have an unexpected negative effect on Liz and Stuart's already crumbling marriage. And Cheryl's arrival leads to a game of musical bedrooms, Heather the most obvious person to relinquish hers in having Ed's as a place to stay where she is most nights anyway. However due to a family situation with Ed, Heather decides to stay in Colin's granny flat. As the one now geographically closest to Heather, Colin discovers that Heather's outward reason for not staying with Ed was a lie which he figures indicates problems between Heather and Ed, such news which he has to share with his fellow "Heather spurnee" Ben.

Heather's newfound serenity is skewered when her graduation day devolves into chaos.