Monica has had her baby,delivered with Ian's help and christened Stella Iana. Somewhat bizarrely the baby seems capable of speaking - or is it Frank hallucinating again? As Debbie hits sixteen she and Tom go public and the Gallaghers throw a party. It's bad news for Shane though when Kelly tells him she miscarried and for Ian,who is attacked and wakes up in hospital with total amnesia.

Ian leaves the area and Micky enrols on a film course where his penchant for erotic scripts sees him indulging in threesomes with tutor Zeta and her husband Ady whilst Mimi finishes his assignment. As the Jockey reopens after its fire damage with a night of impromptu strip-tease Karen and Jamie fall out but get back together and Carl,working at the hospital,is smitten with nurse Maxine though she wants their relationship to be casual. Mandy gets a new boyfriend in Jamie's friend Joe whilst Stan at last makes a break-through with Yvonne's kids and Norma,obsessed with a possible murder at the pub in the past,finds what she mistakenly believes to be human remains.

Frank is shocked to discover that he's been a victim of identity fraud. As a result, his record has been wiped clean and he's eligible for jury service.

The Maguires are horrified to find their late son Fergal's grave has been desecrated and set up a CCTV camera which actually captures a mystery woman tending the grave. Carl gets a job as a car washer,leading to another sexual encounter but when he discovers he has an STD ,on Stan's advice,he is forced to tell all his old conquests - except the sexy customer,who is expecting. Micky learns that Ady is in love with him but,after an ultimatum from Zeta,intends to stay in his show marriage,ending Micky's acquaintance with the couple. Monica uses sham hypnotist Damien De Soto to try and make Frank jealous but ends up having sex with Damien in the toilet. Despite a misunderstanding over body hair Mandy,now living in the Jockey,has a night of passion with Joe.

During a James Bond themed evening at the Jockey Paddy meets Maureen,the woman from Fergal's graveside,and Karen suffers a miscarriage. When Mimi and Paddy insist on an elaborate show funeral she wonders whether she wants to bring another Maguire into the world. Debbie enters Liam for a modelling contest,a cash prize accompanying the photo shoot in Blackpool. As the poster is for a child abuse campaign Debbie is not keen for Monica to know but she tags along with Norma and Frank,who ends up being in the poster. Whilst Carl's compilation of a black book of the sexiest women he knows lands him in trouble,Tom's sick prank to make Stan think he has hung himself will lead to his leaving the area with Carrie.

After a night of drink Paddy wakes to find himself tied to a bed in Maureen's house. But this is not a sex game. Maureen's teen-aged daughter died of an overdose of heroin supplied by Paddy and now she intends to inject him with his own merchandise. Lonely DSS fraud officer Bernard calls on Frank to find out why he is claiming for children who have left home. Frank tries to bribe him with drink and a session at the brothel but Monica's wiles ensure that the case will be 'lost' though Frank is unhappy with her seduction method. Micky begs Carl to keep quiet after Carl discovers he is into men and Carrie and Tom move on,taking the contents of the police house with them.

Ian returns from his travels. However, he's unaware that the car he's driving harbors secret cargo. Ian makes an even more shocking discovery when returning home to the Gallaghers' to find history has repeated itself.

Maureen releases Paddy who returns home addicted to heroin though Mimi believes he has cancer. Kelly discovers the truth and tells Shane. She has resigned from the brothel and they are working a scam to blackmail married men having sex with her in hotels before Shane bursts in on them. However one man attacks Shane,who ends up in a coma. The Gallaghers believe they have inherited a four-bedroomed house from a deceased aunt but it turns out to only be a caravan. Karen and Jamie have yet another public row when she opposes his being co-licensee as she refuses to let the pub pass to the Maguires.

Shane is left temporarily paralysed,causing Mimi and Kelly to fight over which one of them should care for him,which in turn leads to Kelly telling Mimi that Paddy is an addict. Mimi eventually agrees to stand by her husband. Ian and Danny move into Danny's grandfather's house and Norma decides to go back to lorry driving. Old flame Ruby suggests they start over but Norma sees that,with Monica gone,Liam and Stella need a mother and returns to the estate. Suspecting that Joe is overly controlling to Mandy Karen confronts him but ends up having sex with him.

Frank is summonsed to Liam's school as the boy is granted a special scholarship due to his brightness. Both parents are required to attend so Norma poses as Frank's wife,the pair of them fancying Liam's school mistress. Kelly engages Meena as Shane's physiotherapist though her methods prove to be rather too hands on and Maxine and Micky grow close due to their mutual lust for Carl. As sole licensee of the Jockey Karen fires Jamie,who retaliates by selling his share of the pub to Joe.

Hearing that Joe has been abusing Mandy Jamie hospitalizes him but,given that her son is on licence for killing a man,Mimi takes the rap and is remanded in custody. Zeta's husband Ady is a sergeant on the case and suspects a cover-up,blackmailing Micky into having sex with him though Maxine calls his bluff,as well as showing Carl how to thwart thieves on his milk round. Frank discovers Paddy's addiction and tells the boys. As Shane and Micky are hopeless as drug dealers Jamie must take over the business.

When Liam is reported for missing school Ian discovers that,as he has a knowledge of sign language,Liam has been trying to help Danny find his father but this leads to a parting of the ways between Ian and Danny. Yvonne is concerned that Meena,who is now embarking on a modelling career,is posing for raunchier shots than she should and Mandy confides in Frank that she not sure whether or not to leave Joe.

Chesney loses his cherry to housewife Lorna and becomes infatuated with her. However,literally caught with his pants down by her tough-looking soldier husband he realises that the man allows his wife's promiscuous indulgence to make up for his own deficiency. Joe agrees to drop the charges against Mimi provided Mandy returns to him and Mandy agrees though she plans to leave him later. However Karen and Jamie are reconciled. Liam and Stella are taken into care after a neighbour finds Frank comatose in charge of them. Debbie lets fly at him and he reacts predictably - by getting drunk.

Despite Frank's efforts to stay sober Social Services doubt his parenting abilities and Debbie trying to snatch Liam and Stella from the foster-home does not help. Fortunately Yvonne is accepted as the new foster parent. She has persuaded Meena to return home from the brothel but a larger problem when husband Kash,who faked his suicide,leaving the children to believe he was dead,returns and wants money to vanish again. Desperate Yvonne and Stan devise a plan which ensures that this time he will stay dead. Mimi is released and a contrite Joe sells his share of the pub back to Jamie whilst declaring his love for Mandy.

Paddy has gone cold turkey but Mimi still believes he betrayed her with Maureen and is hostile. After Frank has defecated in public Debbie throws him out and he shelters in a church confession box where he overhears Mimi planning to hire an assassin to kill Paddy. He tells Paddy who decides he will pay the hitman more to kill Mimi though in the event the gunman intends to kill them both but is knocked out by Mark,Debbie's new boyfriend. Joe proposes to Mandy and Ian plans to return to Spain despite Liam's efforts to get him to stay by using Micky as a potential lover.

Angry to have lost his Child Benefit to Yvonne Frank gets her to pay him to baby-sit whilst farming the kids out to a woman in the pub at a lower rate. Maxine comes up with a novel way to declare her feelings for Carl in public whilst Karen finds she is pregnant. Suspecting that Joe might be the father she tells Mandy about their fling and asks her not to marry Joe. However Mandy is lured to Maureen's house where the older woman,desperate and deranged,aims to show Paddy what it means to lose a daughter and blows the house up,killing herself and Mandy.