After the initial elation of rescuing Erin and Priscilla from Hal Roman's villa in Rio, the gang's spirits sank when Sonya Cortes was inadvertently shot by Hal's assistant, Stella. Hal died after being shot on the operating table by Erin, and Stella was taken into custody, but Sonya was left in critical condition. When she awoke, Sonya discovered that she couldn't move her legs. She had been paralyzed from the waist down after the bullet came into contact with her spinal column.

Erin and Charlie tried to put the past behind them, but it was easier said than done. They both felt a horrible sense of responsibility for what happened to Sonya, even though it was her decision to accompany them to Rio. Erin had trouble coping with the fact that she shot and killed Hal, and began to attend therapy sessions with Tyson LeBrock for her lingering depression.

Meanwhile, Misty Bradley began training as a nurse at the hospital and started to work closely with Sonya. Sonya sought to maintain her independence, despite her paralysis, and Misty was her on-call nurse. The two women forged a friendship, even once Sonya discovered Misty's attraction to her former boyfriend, Jasper Kent. Jasper and Misty worried that her parents wouldn't understand the age difference in their relationship, but Sonya advised them to do what makes them happy. She knew life was too short to waste.

But Sonya had some trouble taking her own advice. She refused to admit that her paralysis was permanent, convinced she would make a recovery. And when Abe Emery tried to connect with her on a deeper level, she pushed him away, thinking he was only staying with her out of sympathy. As much as he cared for her, Sonya made it clear she didn't want to be with him, and Abe left St. Laurent behind.

Misty and Jasper decided to come clean about their relationship. He was best friends with her parents, but still, they were unsure how her parents would react to the fact that she was dating a man so much older than she was. Misty told her mother first, and though Tisha disapproved, she tried to remain supportive. Benton, on the other hand, flew off the handle. He couldn't understand what his daughter could have in common with someone like Jasper -- and he couldn't see how Jasper could be serious about Misty, thinking that Jasper was exploiting his daughter's naïveté. But Misty was ready to make her own decisions for the first time in her life. She refused to be deterred.

At the same time, her twin brother BJ's relationship with Eden Redding was threatened when he learned she had once slept with Roddy Wallace and lied to him about it. They managed to patch things up, but they were still worried because Josie was now dating Roddy. Neither of them trusted him. Josie tried to convince them Roddy had changed, but they had to agree to disagree, as BJ and Eden headed off to college together.

After her Maid of Honor accidentally set her on fire at her own wedding, Giselle ended up in the hospital. Her injuries were substantial, but she was more shaken than anything. Still, her marriage to Vincent was official, and nobody could take that away from her. For her part, Monique Champlain made herself scarce, fearing Giselle's retaliation if and when she fully recovered.

Free from Giselle and the Highwind, Monique tried to straighten her life out and gave up her drug habit. Erin Emery hired her on at the book café, and even rented her old apartment to Monique after Erin and Charlie moved into their new home. Things seemed to be working out for Monique, but Remy threatened to pull her back into her old lifestyle. He'd become dependent on drugs too, and his relationship with her became emotionally and physically abusive.

Giselle was released from the hospital. She was furious at her son's behavior and blamed Monique for turning Remy into a trashy drug addict. Remy refused to listen to his mother's demands that he end things with Monique.

At the Highwind, Elena came up with a plan to develop an extreme sports expansion for the resort. Giselle was forced to admit it was a good idea, however, she vindictively hijacked Elena's plan and placed Kerrigan in charge of its development.

Kerri hired her brother, Miles, to come to St. Laurent and work at the X-Limit. Miles accepted and was quick to meet Elena. When Elena discovered his relation to Kerri, she became very interested in Miles. She convinced Miles to date her. He didn't want to hurt his sister by dating someone she didn't get along with, but Elena promised it had nothing to do with getting even with Kerrigan or Beau.

When Vincent moved in with his new bride, he offered his old home to Charlie and Erin. They accepted, without realizing that Martine and Josie had yet to move out. Charlie felt bad for the way his father treated Martine. Charlie and Erin offered to let Martine stay with them until she got back on her feet. Martine found a job writing a magazine column, but the biggest surprise was when she learned she was pregnant with Tyson LeBrock's child. Martine considered getting rid of the baby, but after getting some advice from Kerrigan and after reconnecting with Tyson, she decided to give motherhood a shot.

Hoping to help Erin through the rough time she'd been having emotionally, Charlie moved their wedding plans forward. The two of them were married in a small ceremony, but they weren't celebrating for long. While enjoying an afternoon in the sun with Sonya and their daughter, little Summer discovered a corpse buried in the book café's garden. It was Monique Champlain, murdered and buried with a syringe stabbed into her chest.

The discovery was disastrous for everyone. Remy sank into an even deeper misery of drugs and alcohol when he heard the news. Erin and Charlie felt like they could never get a break from all the chaos in their lives, and even Giselle and Vincent seemed shocked by the news. Remy blamed his mother, thinking she was responsible for the crime. Remy dug into the investigation and learned that Josie's boyfriend, Roddy Wallace, had been Monique's drug dealer. Both Remy and Roddy maintained their innocence, but neither of them had an alibi for the night Monique died. They knew they were likely to be the prime suspects in the crime, so before they could be questioned, they collaborated on a fake alibi.

At the same time, Beau found his mother's housekeeper behaving strangely. He caught her burning a stack of clothes, and when he examined them further, he saw that they were covered in blood! Beau took the evidence to the police and after forensic testing, Giselle was arrested for Monique's murder.

While Giselle was awaiting her trial, the rest of the Highwind management insisted on pressing forward with the X-Limit Expansion. They'd already invested too much money in the project to put it on hold now, and to help recoup some of that cash, Elena, Miles, Beau, and Kerri decided to have a Casino Night Fundraiser. Kerri was apprehensive at the suggestion they hold the event on a luxury yacht. It reminded her too much of the boating accident that nearly killed her several years earlier, but she was determined to be strong and put the unfortunate past behind her. Beau was proud of her for being strong and secretly planned on proposing to her at the party.

As the preparations for the big event began, an old friend from Miles's past showed up to cause some trouble. Dominick D'Amato was a former friend of Miles, but Miles owed money to Dominick's family and had come to St. Laurent to try to escape his debt. Dominick demanded Miles fork over the money he owed, and Miles convinced him to give him a little more time.

Dominick heard about the Casino Fundraiser from Elena. When a dateless Elisabeth asked him to be her date, Dom agreed. While Dominick and Elisabeth left for the cruise, Dom's cohort and eyepatched sister, Ava, broke into Elisabeth's apartment and robbed her. Meanwhile, Dominick pressured Miles to pay up, attempting to convince him to steal the fundraiser's donations to repay his debt. Miles didn't want to ruin his sister's big event by stealing the money, but it was beginning to look like his only option...

Giselle was taken into custody after her arrest. At her arraignment, it was determined that she was to be held without bail until her trial. Remy, meanwhile, began having disturbing visions and doubted his own innocence. While he was high, he had a vision of Monique's murder -- one in which he was covered in blood and hovering over her body. He also remembered his mother being at the scene of the crime and started to wonder if Giselle was covering for him. He felt guilty for the way he'd snapped at his mother, when she was only trying to protect him all along.

Vincent couldn't bear to see his wife behind bars, but Giselle told him she had to do it for Remy. Still, Vincent was determined to do whatever he could to spare his wife from serving jail time. When Giselle's behavior became more and more erratic, Vincent pressed for her to be transferred to a mental health facility. Beau and the prosecution thought she was faking her symptoms, but a psychiatrist decided she was unstable. Giselle was taken from jail and sent to a psychiatric hospital.

Giselle regained her senses at the psych facility and realized that her husband had been drugging her. Vincent thought he was doing his wife a favor -- that her drug induced insanity might help her escape the murder charges against her. But Giselle was infuriated with him for going behind her back and violating her. After being threatened by another patient in the facility, Giselle was desperate to leave the place.

When Elena heard that Giselle was being moved to the Castleton Psychiatric Hospital, she passed the information along to her brother, Pete Sorenson. Pete faked a suicide attempt in jail and got himself sent to the hospital to further torment Giselle.

One night, Pete broke into Giselle's room, preparing to attack her with a scalpel. Giselle did her damnedest to convince him not to kill her. He was all set to enact his revenge when Giselle made him an offer he couldn't refuse. If he helped her escape the mental hospital, she would pay him enough money to go anywhere -- enough money to be financially set for the rest of his life. Pete agreed to the offer and together, he and Giselle escaped from Castleton.

Between Charlie's family's legal troubles and her own residual depression, Erin worried about the growing distance between her and her husband. She hoped a fun night together at the casino fundraiser would help the two of them reconnect. Sonya agreed to babysit Summer, with Misty's help, while the couple enjoyed a night on the town. Erin worried about leaving Summer in someone else's care for the night, and when she missed a call from Sonya, she became worried for her daughter. Erin tried to call Sonya back, but got no response. She raced from the party to check on her daughter.

Dominick ignored Elisabeth at the party. Instead, he focused on Miles and his attempt to convince Miles to steal from the Highwind celebration at sea. Miles tried to buy more time, while Dominick tried to play both sides -- doing his family's dirty work and trying to mend his friendship with Miles. When Dominick was thrown off the cruise by security, his sister Ava decided to take charge of the assignment herself.

Stealing a moment to themselves aboard the ship, Beau proposed to Kerri. She was overjoyed and quickly accepted his proposal. Her elation was short-lived, however, when Ava caught her alone and kidnapped her from the cruise. Ava met up with Miles and demanded that he steal the money and bring it to her that night if he wanted to save his sister. With nowhere else to turn, Miles told Beau everything about Dom, Ava, and his debts -- and that Kerri was now caught up in the plot. While the two men scrambled to get the money and rescue Kerrigan, Miles had another admission to make: he was responsible the boat explosion that nearly claimed Kerri's life several years earlier...

Charlie searched for Erin, who had vanished from the party. He called her and she told him she feared something was wrong with Summer. Charlie assured her that Sonya would take good care of her, but Erin refused to come back until she knew for sure. When she reached Sonya's house, Summer was nowhere to be found. Sonya told Erin that her daughter was perfectly fine and asleep in the other room. When Erin saw a syringe of Sonya's medication in the living room, however, she snapped and turned into a completely different person!

An unhinged Erin accused Sonya and Misty of harming her daughter. The syringe sent Erin's mind racing back to Rio de Janeiro, where Hal had repeatedly drugged her with sedatives. Apparently, Hal's treatment of her, coupled with Erin's unhealthy attachment to her daughter and unresolved feelings about Hal's murder, had caused her to have an emotional breakdown. Erin believed Misty and Sonya were part of Hal's conspiracy to hurt her and Summer.

When Misty and Sonya tried to calm their irrational friend, Erin attacked. The two women wrestled for the syringe and in the scuffle, it ended up lodged in Misty's neck! Erin panicked and chased after Misty as Misty tried to get away from her. Before Misty could get help, Erin shoved her down the stairs to Sonya's basement. Sonya was shocked by Erin's actions, especially when Erin admitted to killing Monique Champlain. Erin had caught Monique with drug paraphernalia (including a needle) the night Monique was murdered and had assumed she was out to harm her. Sonya realized how desperate and afraid Erin was -- and also how dangerous!

Erin went upstairs to find her daughter, and Sonya called the police. When Erin and Summer returned and found that Sonya had called for help, Erin snapped at her once-friend. Sonya tried to escape, but Erin bashed her in the head with a frying pan, leaving her life in jeopardy.

Before the police could arrive, Erin collected Summer and took off in her car, prepared to leave St. Laurent behind forever if that was the only way she could remain with her daughter. By the time Charlie arrived at Sonya's house, it was surrounded by squad cars. He watched helplessly as Sonya was removed from the house on a stretcher. What the hell had happened here? And where were Erin and Summer?