Kelly's father swoops into town, and once again sweeps her off of her feet with promises of a relationship. Although her friends are worried about the bad track record of Mr. Taylor, she once again believes he's back in her life for good and for good reasdons. Unfortunately, he abandons his plans to move back into town, and Kelly makes a terrible personal choice. Joe begins having heart problems and Donna is worried that his doctors are more concerned with getting him back on the football field than properly treating him. When Steve sets up a Roger Corman film festival at the PPAD, they meet a woman named Joan who was the love of Nat's life, and Nat and Joan then reconnect.

Susan is nominated for a college journalism award for her story about a girl's decision to have an abortion. Brandon does not understand why Jonathan insists on flying in for the awards ceremony. Susan explains that she and Jonathan broke up over a difference of opinion regarding the story; this further confuses Brandon. Susan wins the award and bursts into tears during her speech. She confesses to Brandon that the story was about herself; devastated by her sister's death, she had a drunken encounter with Jonathan and wound up pregnant. Jonathan proposed to her, and was crushed when she chose to terminate the pregnancy. Jonathan offers Susan his forgiveness, although she still has doubts about her decision. Valerie arranges a meeting between Colin and a knowledgeable art buyer in the hopes of encouraging Colin to get clean and focus on his career. Unfortunately, the man purchases two works that Colin had painted while high. Kelly swears off cocaine, but cannot resist temptation for long. Steve runs into Elle, the transvestite he met in Palm Springs, during a shopping excursion with Clare. Clare refuses to believe that Elle is a man. Elle attends the journalism conference and ends up on a date with Clare's father. Steve pleads with Elle to hide the truth from the chancellor, as he hasn't dated for a while and is very fragile.