Kelly recruits Steve and Janet's five-month-old baby, Maddy, for a photo ad as part of her first independent PR assignment for a new knock-wurst sausage. But when the plans fall through, Steve decides to step in and volunteer himself for the ad. Meanwhile, Noah meets and becomes acquainted with Ellen, a fellow AA member in need of attention. Matt accompanies Dylan on a motorcycle road trip in the California hills where they Matt unknowingly ingests acid at a desert rave which leads to him spending the night with one of the party girls. Also, Donna's distress over David grows after she catches him and Camille in a compromising sexual position on the floor of the boutique after hours.

Camille continues to get between Donna and David when she decides, but not Donna, to market products from the boutique over the Internet. But David has concerns of his own when Dylan begins working closely with Camille for her on-line web site for the store, and Donna is drawn to the Internet salesman Mitch. Meanwhile, Matt begins having difficulty with Kelly when his guilt over his drug-induced, one-night stand begins to surface. Steve and Janet have a crisis when the dog they are babysitting for kills and eats their neighbor's daughter's pet rabbit and Steve resorts to low means to find a replacement before their neighbors find out. Also, Noah tries helping Ellen get a job to get a new start in her life, but she resents his help which she sees as an intrusion into her life.

Noah helps Ellen get back into AA, but she tells him that she does not see on the same lines as he does for recovery. Meanwhile, Steve invests in Donna's on-line venture after Janet says no to the offer. Matt pads his continuing lie about his one-night-stand to Kelly while Dylan continues lurking around them to see if Matt will give in and confess to Kelly about it. Donna reject Mitch's business style in personal matters when his come-ons become more frequent which leads to him sabotaging her opening night of her web site after she rejects going out with him again. Also, David becomes more grumpy with his relationship with Camille, especially after she volunteers to model for Donna's designs on-line.

Dylan's generous wedding gift of two open-ended airplane tickets vexes both Kelly and Matt who consider moving to Seattle for Matt to interview for a job at a prestigious law firm. Meanwhile, Steve and Janet receive an offer by a businessman to buy their newspaper which Janet will run it where as Steve will not which sets both of them to try out a trial run of Steve being with baby Maddy for a week while Janet runs the office. Donna tells David that she wants to keep their relationship strictly platonic, while Donna's mother, Felice, tells her that she has decided to put the family house up for sale. Also, Noah meets Ellen's family which includes her mother and Ellen's six-year-old, out-of-wedlock daughter.

Camille returns to town after a long vacation with hope of reconciliation with David, unaware of his returning feelings for Donna who finds Camille's presence uncomfortable. Meanwhile, a reported surfing accident in Dylan's area makes Kelly searching for him thinking that he may be dead. When the rumor is false and Dylan turns up alive, Kelly ponders her hidden feelings for him. Janet is offered a better editing job away from the Beverly Beat which makes Steve wary over this turn of events. Also, Noah meets with Ellen again to try to work out their differences and start anew.

After David proposes marriage to Donna, both of them contemplate the matter and finally make a big decision. With Janet's career as a junior editor for the new owner of the Beverly Beat taking off, Steve become conflicted about being an unemployed stay-at-home father for baby Maddy. Kelly, while trying to open her independent public relations company, must make her own final decision on marrying Matt to console him after he learns that his brother in New York has suddenly died, and an uncertain-of-himself Dylan after he gets his college diploma. When Kelly tells Matt that she cannot marry him out of uncertainty, he lets the slip about his one-night stand during the desert road trip. Also, Noah contemplates commitment to Ellen and her daughter, but when he feels he's not ready, he breaks up with Ellen for good.