Stephanie goes missing but turns up at Tara's Fashion House having reverted to Tara Welles, the identity she assumed after the disfiguring first attack. Angelo is still reeling after the death of his opponent when Tony and his goons burst in seeking restitution. Dennis offers to make good on the debt but Angelo still cops a beating for not throwing the fight.

Jilly brings Stephanie back to Eden where Dan assures Sarah that her mother's recovery is his top priority. The board of Harper Mining votes against admitting Jake but he has a proposition of his own — to sell them his shares in the company. The price is high but Bill agrees in order to keep the shares off the open market. Tom and Sarah spend the day together but at a family dinner she feels shunned by his mother who reluctantly admits to Tom that she and his father don't think he should be seeing Sarah.

Detective Jennings reports to Dan the police are making little progress on the two attacks on Stephanie. Philips proposes marriage to Jilly. Tony pays Angelo another visit at his father's restaurant hoping to get him back into the ring but Angelo is adament his boxing career is over. Tony draws a gun but Vittorio chases him off with a shotgun.

Harper Mining stock prices tumble on word of Jake's share sale and he seizes the opportunity to buy back even more at the deflated price. Dennis is furious at Bill for his mismanagement of the company. Jilly's phychiatrist believes she made an unconscious decision to withdraw from reality and recommends treatment through hypnosis. Jilly is asked to sit in on the therapy session which ends in Stephanie attacking Jilly.

Jilly informs Jake of Stephanie's pending return to Harpers and wants assurace that she still has a place in his plans. Dan tries to get Stephanie to agree to a vacation but she is determined to stop Jake and won't take time off. Tony Taylor interupts Dennis' date with Cassie and threatens her life in order to get Dennis to convince Angelo to keep fighting. Dan receives news there will be a Coroner's inquest into the boxer's death and his role as the surgeon. Stephanie has a midnight meeting with Jake at Harper Mining. He informs her he's on the verge of getting his seat on the board and kisses her just as Dan walks into the room.

With her company and personal life both in jeopardy of falling apart, Stephanie returns to Eden. Afraid of being caught hiding the source of Jake's shares, Cassie is having cold feet about working with Jake but he threatens to tell Dennis about their past if she doesn't cooperate. Jake invites Stephanie out to dinner, enticing her with the prospect of finding out where his shares came from. Dennis is eager to dig up some dirt on Jake to learn his secrets and receives Stephanie's endorsement. Having encouraged Stephanie to go after Dan, Jilly drives her sister to the airport and hears of Jake's intension to tell Stephanie about his shares.

Bill and his wife, Rena, agonise over revealing a long-held secret to Stephanie — that Tom and Sarah are brother and sister. Jake's glowing opinion of Stephanie causes Jilly to tell him about her sister's dark past, namely having a child when she was 18 — a child she was told died after she was sent oversees following the child's birth.

Tom wants Cassie's help to go through the company's share transaction records to learn where Jake got his shares. Cassie offers to do the work herself and destroys the last remaining paper records. Jake gives notice to the board to he intends to call a meeting to hold a no-confidence vote against Stephanie. Jilly asks her ex-convict friend, Olive, to track down proof of the birth of Stephanie's first child. Dennis finds Cassie crying in the office and she begins to confess her stock obfuscations when Jake interupts them. All of Bill's attempts to contact Stephanie to tell her about Tom and Sarah fail and their relationship progresses...

Dennis contacts Stephanie to tell her about Jake's attempt to take over her company. She hopes to chair the meeting over the phone but the line goes dead — cut but Olive. Bill tries to stall for time but the vote goes ahead. The no-confidence motion passes by a narrow margin and Jake is subsequently voted in as the new chairman of Harper Mining. Dan and Stephanie rush to their boat to get to another phone but a cut fuel line leads to the boat exploding with Dan onboard.