Walter Alcott est le chauffard qui a tué les parents des Salinger dans un accident. Souhaitant se faire pardonner, il tente de s'introduire dans leur vie...

Bailey et Kate partent camper avant que celle-ci ne quitte la région pour intégrer une école de la côte Est. De son côté, Kristen est désespérée : elle a découvert qu'elle ne peut pas avoir d'enfant...

La famille reproche à Charlie de ne pas l'avoir prévenue de l'arrivée de Kristen. De leur côté, Julia découvre que sa mère a eu une liaison avec un musicien et Claudia veut se convertir au judaïsme...

After being irritated by the family's interference in her wedding plans, Kirsten and Charlie decide to run off to Reno and elope. Charlie's friend, Dudley, continues to plan their engagement party, despite the happy couple's disappearance. Bailey decides to run for class vice president. Sarah volunteers to be his campaign manager. But when Sarah ends up doing all the work and Bailey pays less attention, she tells Bailey how she really feels about him. Julia lies to Justin in order to spend time with Griffin.

A teacher is hitting on Julia and she feels uncomfortable. He asks her if he can give her a ride home and tries to kiss her. She is upset and talks to Justin. He threats him, and Mr. Peck tells the Principal that Julia is the one harassing him. She gets scared and tries to change classes, but Charlie convinces her to confront him. Sarah gets a credit card and starts to spend a lot of money just to get back at her parents for lying to her. It's her birthday and Bailey takes her to have dinner and they fight. He tells her that her parents love her, no matter what. Claudia is hanging out with Jody and they steal a bottle of rum from the bar. They get drunk and Charlie gets mad at her. Charlie is flirting with a waitress at the bar, but when she tells him that she doesn't want anything with him he gets mad. He calls Kristen just to hear her voice again.

Julia doesn't want to go to school, and when she does she feels awful and guilty. She lies to Justin and Charlie and runs away to New Orleans to meet Griffin. She feels safe around him. They spend time together, talking about what happened to her, and he tells her to go back home. Bailey is jealous about Sarah for wearing tight clothes in her shows and for hanging out too much with her band. They fight because she thinks he's controlling her too much. Kathleen wants to be more in Charlie's life. She invites the whole family to go to Hawaii and Charlie gets mad at her because he wants to keep it casual. He tells her that he doesn't love her and she attempts suicide.

Will is leaving for college and his new roommate comes from Seattle so they can go together. He's a freak, but Will has to be nice to him - after all they're spending a year together. Bailey feels threatened by his presence and they have a fight. Bailey finds his car and decides to live in a dorm to meet people and move on with his life. Will leaves. Kristen gets a job far away and they have to deal with the distance. She tells Charlie that if they were married things might have been different. Julia wants Griffin to find a place of his own, but he spends his money buying her a car. She gets fired after he confronts her boss and decides to leave to San Diego to get on with his life. Claudia wants her relationship with Byron to be just like Julia and Griffin's, but Byron is more interested in Julia than in her. Claudia blames Julia for stealing her boyfriend but later realizes that he's the jerk.

Charlie is angry because Kristen is gone. Grace comes into the restaurant looking for support in her homeless program. She wants the leftovers from Salinger's, but Charlie kicks her out of the place. An old friend of Nick comes looking for a job, and Charlie gives him one because his father used to. Claudia believe that everything bad happening is the house's fault, so she gets an exorcist. Someone opens an account in the name of Nick Salinger, and they think it was the exorcist but actually it was Earl. Bailey tells Callie that the last time he had sex was 2 years ago. She seduces him and they sleep together. Sarah is throwing a Halloween party and Bailey goes so he won't feel so bad for cheating on her. Julia is upset because Justin is dating a new girl and tries to ruin everything, but regrets and get them back together. Bailey has a fight with Sarah and goes to Callie for comfort, but she is with another guy, so Bailey decides to look for comfort in a beer.

Charlie decides to go to Chicago to see Kristen and leaves Julia in charge. Kristen is very happy to see him, although Ellie is not. She tells him that she wants to run away to San Francisco, but half way there she realizes she's not ready to go back and they return to Chicago. She says he's her problem. Charlie leaves her there. Julia is more concerned about her personal life than her brother and sister. Claudia claims to be sick, but Julia won't believe her until she gets a call from the hospital saying Claudia had appendicitis and had a surgery. She won't forgive Julia until she overhears how sorry she is. Bailey lies to Sarah in order not to sleep with her. He skips practice and Sarah finds a drunk Bailey passed out at his place. He tells her he slept with Callie, but they don't break up. Callie is tired of being used by Bailey.

Bailey is not doing so well in school. Callie throws a big party at their place and the landlord threats to kick them out. He is trying to stay sober, but it's hard. Unable to keep up with school, he decides to quit. Charlie doesn't want to rush things with Grace, but the more they try to slow it down, the more they want to be together, so they sleep together. Julia is accepted in Stansford, but is not sure she wants to go. She wants a time off studies, and to find herself. Charlie thinks it's all Sam's fault. Ross is dating one of Claudia's teachers, and she outs him to the entire school. She tries to fix it, but Ross tells her it's not that easy.

Grace's parents are spending time with them, and Grace doesn't like it, but Charlie does. Claudia is spending time with Avery, which makes his son jealous of her. Bailey spends all his money in drinking and can't afford a clown for Owen's birthday party, so he dresses as a clown. He gets to the party drunk and ruins it. Martin tells Charlie that Bailey might have a drinking problem, but Charlie refuses to accept that idea, even though everybody else thinks so too. Julia breaks up with Sam because he's a racist.

Sarah dumped her boyfriend. Her mom tells Bailey that she got into Brown, and Bailey gets mad at her because she is moving away, but she is going to Berkeley instead. They kiss, but Sarah tells Bailey that she just wants to be friends with him. Charlie and Grace break up because she doesn't like children, and she wins the election. Justin is going to Europe for 2 months and ask Julia to go with him. But she doesn't and gets married to Griffin. Charlie, Bailey and Claudia give Julia their mom's ring, and she moves out.

Julia has some troubles with catching up as a married woman. Claudia wants to be popular in high school. Sarah's father drops some charges again Bailey, because he catched him driving in drunk condition.

Griffin still keeps the truth about his finance problems away from Julia and decides to borrow a lot of money from a business associate. Charlie collapses on the racquetball court and later tells everything to Kirsten. Sarah is convinced that now is the right time for her to lose her virginity, but her plan fails. Due to her decidion, Bailey ends up in bed with Annie.

Griffin wins a free trip to Los Angeles when he turns out to be the thousandth customer at the supermartket. He and Julia gets closer and ther relationship seems to filled with love again. Meanwhile, Charlie is bothered by Daphne's stripping and that makes some troubles in their relationship. The real shock comes when she admits being pregnant. Claudia is finally happy when Jamie asks her to go to his prom.

Sarah confesses to Bailey that she still loves him. They get back together and finish in bed together. Julia gets accepted at Stanford, making Griffin feel like he is holding her back from her college life. Charlie tells Daphne he will take full responsobility as the father of her baby if he has to. Claudia and Jamie end up dancing in the playing field by themselves.