Brandon and Kelly are surprised when they find Erica Steele, Dylan's younger half-sister, working the streets. They turn to Pam, a social worker, to help them find Erica when she runs from them. Meanwhile, Steve is struck with uncertainty after he is mistaken as Zack's father. Life then takes an unexpected turn when a pregnant girlfriend from Steve's past claims that her unborn child is his. In a desperate attempt to hold onto After Dark, David meets with Everett Sands, a loan shark, and Donna finally learns about David's financial problems after she discovers that David has forged her signature on checks to pay club bills. After breaking up with Valerie, an angry and frustrated Noah lands in jail after a drunken barroom brawl. Brandon bails Noah out of jail. Noah then unloads his secret past to Brandon - of being heir to millions, from which he ran away because his family holds Noah responsible for the his fiancée's death 1 year ago, in a drunk driving crash.

Donna is rushed to the hospital after falling in a coma from an overdose of painkillers where she comes clean with her father about her addiction to pain pills. When Donna admits to her boss, Robert, that she plagiarized someone else's sketches, she is immediately fired. Meanwhile, Kelly cares for a newborn baby left at the clinic by a teenage mother, named Leanne, which makes Kelly wonder if she can take in the baby to care for it herself. Steve falls for Jill, a woman that he has never met, when he starts reading her love letters which are actually addressed to someone else named Ted. Also, Brandon investigates David's sudden success with his new songs where Jasper suggests to him that David's gains for the record deal are ill-gotten. Elsewhere, Valerie struggles to get past her incident with Noah.

Kelly objects to the decision of a Special Services person when the abandoned baby is placed with a gay couple. Meanwhile, Brandon and Steve and Janet quarrel over running cigarette ads for their failing newspaper in which Brandon threatens to quit, while Steve continues to pretend that he's Ted in order to please his pen pal friend Jill. Noah asks to finance Donna's marketing of her own designs for another fashion company. Also, Valerie deals with her long-estranged mother, Abby, who arrives back in town for a visit and hits it off with Kelly's father, Bill, who has been paroled from prison. Elsewhere, David becomes intrigued by his new neighbor Woody Sloan, a former rock star.

Dylan is denied college readmission due to a lame essay and missing the deadline to submit his application. Meanwhile, Kelly and Donna prepare the reopening of the boutique, a fashion show of Donna's men's line. Hours before the New York buyers are to arrive for the show, Gina accidentally sets fire to the rack of -of-a-kind men's clothes. Donna's friends assemble to salvage the fashions and the guys step in as models when the actual models are stuck in traffic. When Matt realizes that Gina set the fire deliberately to ruin Kelly and Donna, he uses the information to pressure Gina to help with the show's publicity. Also, the realities of fatherhood strike Steve, who doubts his ability to be a father but doesn't tell Janet.

Steve practices marriage proposals for Janet, who thinks she only wants help to raise their unborn child. Meanwhile, Dylan asks Gina to move out of his hotel suite and into another one because he not only wants space but also because she keeps spending his money. Matt's announcement of his cautious view of marriage angers Kelly, who believes in lifelong commitment. Meanwhile, while representing a woman who wants out of her 15-year marriage at all costs, Matt's belief in his failed marriage increased. David's date, Robyn, joins him on his radio show to discuss their date and its aftereffects on-air. Noah's attitude toward Donna and the others changes when he hosts a new band for the After Dark and he learns that the band leader's cousin was Wayne.

Steve and Janet finally break the news of her pregnancy, which garners hostility from her conservative mother and father, and mixed reactions from his unorthodox father, Rush. Meanwhile, David tries to curb his radio persona in an attempt to make up with Robyn, but is sidetracked by fans wanting more of his love life. Both Matt and Noah offer to move out of the house to make room for Steve and Janet's nursery. Also, Dylan tries to help out a hotel maid who has to bring her two wild sons to work with her. Gina proposes a plan to Noah, to turn the After Dark into a gentlemen's club to make some quick cash.

Kelly finally learns from Mel that Gina had blackmailed him over his infidelity. But when Kelly tells David, he refuses to believe her or anyone thanks to his renewed involvement with Gina and her skill of manipulation. At the same time, Kelly's mother, Jackie, asks Matt to represent her in suing David's father, while their daughter, Erin, shows obvious signs of depression over the breakup. Meanwhile, Dylan goes to bat for Andrew when he loses his job at the community center. But Dylan's victory over the center is bittersweet when word of Andrew's homosexuality spreads among the kids in which they no longer want Andrew around. Kelly also has to deal with Noah's presence in the beach front apartment which takes up space. Also, Steve and Janet's honeymoon is plagued by a series of mishaps and situations one of which includes a loud polka band playing in the room next to theirs.

Janet goes into premature labor near the end of the honeymoon and gives birth to a baby girl, while Steve maintains a vigil through the week as he worries about the safety of Janet and their newborn. Meanwhile, Dylan asks Kelly and Nat to volunteer in a feed-the-homeless Thanksgiving dinner at the community center. Kelly, seeking a way to boost Jackie's mood, asks her to help out with the dinner, while little Erin continues to mope about her parents' separation. Donna learns of a past indiscretion by her father with Gina's mother, which brings out revelations that could threaten to tear Donna's family apart. Also, David becomes uncertain about where Gina stands with him over her breakup with Dylan.