Beverly Hills, 90210

After enjoying a successful summer in London, Brenda decides to stay in England and pursue her stage career. With her room vacant, the Walsh family agrees to take in Valerie Malone, the college-age daughter of a family friend who has committed suicide. Valerie appears charming and likable, but she is actually cynical and manipulative and plots to get involved with Steve for his money. Donna returns from her summer stay in Texas and claims that she's over with David, who's doing a video for his film class, with a little help from Nat, about his summer of working with Babyface, dating and being dumped by both a girlfriend and the tour, and having some good luck near the end of the season. But that evening, Donna has an emotional meltdown when she runs into David at a nightclub. Meanwhile, Dylan breezes back into town after a binge-filled summer in Mexico while he tries to process the loss of his entire fortune, and Kelly and Brandon take their relationship public. Also, Jesse and Andrea take their premature baby daughter, Hannah, home from the hospital after Andrea details how her maternal instinct was the reason Hannah is still alive.

Brandon and Kelly continue to hide their relationship from Dylan, but the truth is always bound to come out somehow. Brandon decides to tell Dylan about him and Kelly, but Brandon chickens out when he sees Dylan drinking again and in a bad mood. At the same time, Dylan confirms that his entire financial base has been cleaned out by Kevin and Suzanne's scam, but he naturally keeps his crisis to himself. Meanwhile, Donna plans to take the semester off to participate in a debutante ball. Kelly however rightfully suspects that Donna is hiding behind Felice, in order to move away from David. Dylan begins giving everyone a hard time: he crashes Felice's charity event and makes a scene after being tipped off by Nat about Kelly and Brandon. He then goes to the night club where Jesse is working nights and asks for a drink, but Jesse turns him away. Dylan then meets a prostitute at the club and takes her home with him where Kelly, wanting to talk with Dylan, later walks in on them. Both Brandon and Donna confront Dylan about his actions and he seems to be listening to them, but ultimately decides to not return to college and pursues more self-destructive behavior. With Jesse working nights and studying in law classes during the day, Andrea tries to arrange more time to look after baby Hannah.

Brandon accepts Josh Richland's offer to run for student government with him but a militant senior, Alex Diaz, learns about a past story that Josh wrote about Brandon's tutoring of D'Shawn which threatens their campaign. Meanwhile, Valerie sets her devious sights on Dylan and digs her claws in successfully, but he is later shocked to find she's the newest member of Casa Walsh. Also, Kelly and Donna ask Clare to move into the beachfront apartment as their new roommate, but Clare keeps them both awake at night with her snoring.

Brandon wins the election for student body president, but Josh's death hangs heavy on him. Alex tells Brandon he's contesting the election, using Josh's death as leverage to unseat Brandon in order to take the title of president for himself, while Brandon is surprised and touched to learn Josh deeply admired him and resolves to fight for his office in Josh's memory. Meanwhile, Donna finally meets a man, a KEG frat member named Griffin Stone that her mother sets her up with, that makes her forget David, who meets Clare and begins dating her. Also, Valerie continues dating Steve while seeing Dylan behind everyone's back.

Where there's smoke, there's fire, in Kelly's opinion... at least where Valerie is concerned. Kelly begins to distrust Valerie when she smells Valerie smoking pot, but cannot convince anyone that the manipulative Valerie is bad news. Brandon refuses to believe Kelly, while Donna doesn't seem to care. Meanwhile, Steve organizes a two-night party at the Peach Pit, Valerie begins to suspect the truth about Dylan's financial situation when she sees him pocketing money from the til at the Peach Pit. Also, Andrea heads out for a night on the town and spies Jesse flirting on the job. While working on a video project with David and Clare, Donna meets a musician and carpenter named Ray Pruit. Kelly finds Valerie and Dylan fooling around in the Peach Pit's backroom and quickly tells Steve about it, but when they both confront Valerie, she spins it around by saying that Kelly misread what she saw, claiming that Dylan was making a pass at her. Steve believes Valerie, but Kelly doesn't. Kelly then angrily tells Brandon about what went down and that Valerie is fooling everyone about who she really is. Brandon remains skeptic and advises Kelly to give Valerie the benefit of the doubt. At the end, the suspicious Valerie gets Dylan drunk at his house, where he finally confesses to her that he is broke.

The President of Selanesia visits California University to receive cancer treatment, but his presence sets off a fierce debate among Brandon and the rest the student body, as well as drives a riff between Brandon and Clare and her father whom are both friends with the President, when it is revealed that he ordered the torture and execution of thousands of his own people. Meanwhile, the KEG boys and Alpha girls plot to steal the mascot of a rival school before the upcoming Homecoming game where Valerie and Kelly team up with Steve, Griffin and Muntz in a successful operations involving brownies. Andrea feels lonely as Jesse is spending more time studying and bartending than being with her. Andrea then meets a charming guy, named Peter, at a local laundromat. Elsewhere, Donna spends more time with Ray at his family's pumpkin stand. Also, Dylan cheats on Valerie just to see her get hurt like the way he was hurt when his money was stolen.

When the fire marshal shuts down the Peach Pit After Dark for violating capacity, Steve suggests to Dylan and Nat about purchasing the building next door to expand. Unfortunately, Dylan is broke and the only one who knows it is Valerie who is pressured to keep it a secret. The next day, when the Walshes and Valerie are planning a weekend trip to Palm Springs, a fax from Dylan's bank arrives requesting Jim's signature on a mortgage loan that Dylan has taken out, leaving them confused until Valerie finally tells them that Dylan is penniless from Kevin and Suzanne's business scam. Jim then informs Nat, and then apologizes to Dylan for what happened to him, but Dylan is too far gone at this point and rudely tells off Jim and anyone else. Meanwhile, Kelly disapproves when her mother, Jackie, tells her that she wants to return to modeling, but becomes further incensed when Jackie wants to include Kelly's baby sister Erin as well. That evening, David and Clare find themselves in a binding situation when David handcuffs himself to Clare's bed and gets stuck, and soon finds himself alone when Clare has to go out to dinner with her father. Donna continues to juggle dating both Griffin and Ray. But then Griffin takes Donna on a whirlwind trip to Catalina Island with the plans to seduce her, she refuses and finally learns what a creep Griffin really is. Valerie comes to Dylan's house to apologize over losing all his money and they end up sleeping together again. The next morning, Steve and David (not yet aware that Dylan is broke) come over to Dylan's house to talk about the Peach Pit After Dark expansion and they both find Valerie in bed with Dylan. Steve draws the correct conclusion and responds by punching Dylan in his face.

On Halloween, when all of Valerie's misdeeds and true nature are finally revealed, she considers moving back to Buffalo, but is persuaded to stay by Brandon and his parents after learning that Valerie's mother has committed herself to a mental hospital after suffering a nervous breakdown. Steve unfairly blames Dylan for having a tryst with Valerie and ends all business he has with the Peach Pit and After Dark club. Kelly delights herself by going around and telling everyone "I told you so" about being right about Valerie's true persona. While Brandon and Cindy continue to be friendly and supportive to Valerie, Jim, from this point onward, icily treats Valerie with suspicion; wondering if all of the bad things that Kelly has been saying about Valerie might be true. Meanwhile, Dylan's anger and desperation over everyone being aware that he is broke becomes obvious to all when he further isolates himself from everyone he knows, and he later meets a drug dealer at his pool hall who introduces him to cocaine. Dylan later takes out his gun and shoots up his living room. At a fraternity costume party, Donna's two boyfriends, Griffin and Ray, finally meet face to face and almost have a fistfight. Elsewhere, Andrea gets upset when Jesse's aunt presents baby Hannah with a crucifix. Also, Clare talks David into tagging along with her for a UFO hunt for the night in the desert near Barstow.

Dylan's closest friends stage an intervention at Casa Walsh, where they beg him to enter rehab. Valerie and Clare, left out of the intervention, spend the day shopping together. Steve partakes in the intervention, but he is still angry with Dylan over his sexual tryst with Valerie and he still will not listen to Kelly or Jim or anyone else who tell him that Valerie is the really bad seed. Meanwhile, Kelly's modeling career takes an upward turn when she is offered the chance millions of girls only dream about: the opportunity to appear on the cover of the national fashion magazine Seventeen . Dylan runs away from the rehab clinic after one day with a little of Valerie's help, but begins to alienate her too with his self-destructive attitude and his unwillingness to go after the people who betrayed and stole from him, which leads her to finally walk out on him. Dylan's problems increase when he is given heroin by his pool hall dealer. That evening, Ray has dinner with Donna's parents Felice and John. Also, David and Clare's homemade video of their lovemaking disappears and turns up in the home of Donna's parents. However, Donna's father, John, sees the video first, but being a good sport, gives it back to Donna and makes her promise to keep her roommates under control. At the end, Dylan gets high while smoking heroin, and ends up crashing his car off a cliff.

As Dylan lies in a coma fighting for his life at the hospital, he experiences a number of bizarre near-death dreams involving Erica, his drug dealer, Kevin and Suzanne, and his dead father Jack. Meanwhile, Steve is annoyed when his overbearing father, Rush, insinuates himself into a KEG house flag-football game, but comes to find out Rush might have some good business ideas for the PPAD.

The campus erupts in controversy when an anti-Semitic African-American activist is asked to give a speaking engagement at the school. Brandon finds himself caught in the middle of the chaos when his political choices come into direct conflict with his personal ethics. Andrea is opposed to the activist speaker, and openly accuses Brandon of selling out his principles for politics. Meanwhile, Donna plans a birthday surprise for Ray on his 25th birthday, while David ponders his Jewish heritage in relation to the controversy. As Dylan recovers in the hospital, his estranged mother, Iris, keeps him company, but his drug dealer pays an unexpected visit and threatens him not to tell the police about their business.

Brandon is forced to ask Jesse for help to defend his presidency when his political opponent, Alex Diaz, calls for a hearing to determine the validity of his position and Jesse comes up with a winning idea. Meanwhile, the entire gang goes to a Rolling Stones concert. Brandon takes Andrea to the concert. Kelly gets backstage VIP access through the magazine, while Steve has trouble getting in at all after a hippie steals his wallet. Ray and Donna work as vendors and see the show free of charge. David and Clare go to the concert even though they claim to hate the group, but have to turn to a scalper when David's father doesn't show up with the tickets. Elsewhere, Dylan takes one step forward in his rehabilitation on his first day at the halfway house. Steve and his father force Dylan out of the Peach Pit After Dark. He agrees to sell his shares when Steve, Nat, and Willie (the cook) visit him in rehab. Dylan and Valerie agree to stop seeing each other, as he doesn't want to involve her in his problems anymore. During group therapy, Dylan has a confrontation with Charley, an older man and fellow addict who likes to bully other patients instead of dealing with his own problems. Charley seeks Dylan's help to finally overcome his addiction.

Brandon's former girlfriend, Emily Valentine, flies back from Paris to attend a seminar at La Jolla. She asks Brandon to meet her at the airport, claiming to have just a four-hour layover. She actually has a week until the beginning of her seminar, but Brandon breaks her heart by revealing that he is dating Kelly. Meanwhile, Steve and Griffin organize a holiday rave at an abandoned Hollywood house. Valerie helps them out in the hopes of getting back in Steve's good graces. David and Clare accidentally post the notice about the event on a computer bulletin board for lesbians, who constitute most of the guests. The house has very poor wiring and continually blows fuses. Griffin uses too much electricity, and the house catches on fire. Ray rescues Steve and Valerie, who were fooling around in one of the bedrooms. Griffin runs away when the fire department and police show up to put out the fire, leaving behind Steve who has to explain to the officers at what he is doing there. Kelly and a girl named Alison are trapped in a downstairs bathroom with no means of escape.

In the aftermath of the house fire, Kelly suffers second and third degree burns on right wrist, ear, and the whole right side of her neck and back. Allison's injuries are much more severe, but she maintains a positive attitude. While Kelly recovers at the beachfront apartment tended by her mother Jackie, Brandon is racked with guilt because of his feelings for Emily. Kelly does not react well when she learns that Emily is still in town. But after visiting Dylan at the halfway house and meeting Emily herself, Kelly learns that Brandon still loves her. Meanwhile, Steve feels guilty for the house fire and calls upon his father, Rush, to help out after Griffin abandons him. Griffin's father hires a professional attorney for Steve and Griffin where Rush advises both to plead guilty to one count of criminal trespassing in order to avoid jail time. Steve and Griffin follow Rush's advice and they both receive two years of probation and community service... and are also forbidden from operating or attending dance clubs or parties for two years. Steve is furious to learn of this provision, especially after he discovers the truth: Griffin had stole the keys from his father's real estate office to the house, lying to Steve about obtaining permission to use it for the rave. Afterwards, Steve confronts Griffin over him being indirectly responsible for the house fire as well as house key theft. When the smarmy Griffin shows no remorse over any of his actions, Steve orders Griffin to leave the fraternity by threatening him with physical violence, and Griffin reluctantly complies. Elsewhere, Ray's perpetual bad mood confuses Donna. He explains that his alcoholic mother always begins drinking around the holidays, because his equally drunkard father left her on Christmas day over 20 years ago after pushing her down a flight of stairs and causing her to have a miscarriage. Andrea and Jesse throw a party for Hannah's first Hanukkah. Jesse obtains work as an attorney for those who cannot afford representation. He is frustrated by the court treatment of a single Mexican immigrant father, whose kids are taken away when a babysitter neglects them, and his angry lesson about injustice to Steve leads Steve to do a good deed. At the end, Dylan comes home from rehab and is greeted by a letter from a stranger in Michigan who found Erica's note in the LAX ladies room, pleading for his help; the note reads: "Dylan... Kevin and my mother are taking me to Brazil. Help me! Erica".

On Christmas Eve, Felice interferes in Donna and Ray's relationship by offering him a bribe to stop seeing her. Ray's alcoholic, chain-smoking mother, LuAnn, goes Christmas shopping with Donna. Differing family traditions cause tension between the Catholic Jesse and the Jewish Andrea. Clare introduces David to her father during a faculty Christmas party. They find common ground over their love of music and playing the piano. Meanwhile, Dylan manages to get in contact with his father's former fiancee and FBI handler, Christine Pettit, to help him find his stolen money, but Christine tells Dylan that the agency cannot help. Dejected, Dylan spends Christmas Eve alone and sober at his house watching Christmas themed movies on his TV and thinks back to the time when Suzanne and Erica first came into his life one year earlier. The next morning on Christmas, Dylan gets an oddball visitor who introduces himself as J. Jay Jones (nicknamed "Jonesy"), an older man who claims to be his "Christmas present" from Christine Pettit. Jones is an alcoholic ex-FBI agent and Christine's former partner in the agency who currently works as a freelance bounty hunter, mercenary, private investigator, and assassin-for-hire who was contacted about the situation and offers to help Dylan track down the people who stole his money in exchange for getting half of it. Dylan reluctantly agrees to the deal. Brandon is left alone to care for the recovering Kelly when Jim and Cindy leave town to visit Brenda in England and Valerie leaves to visit her mother in Buffalo. Kelly worries about Brandon finding her unattractive due to her fire burn scars. Also, Nat hosts a special feed-the-homeless dinner at the Peach Pit.

While working off his community service at a Hollywood retirement home, Steve meets a former stage and screen actor named Saul Howard, a victim of Alzheimer's Disease, whose life story inspires Steve to make the most of his own. Meanwhile, Ray is offered the chance to perform on stage at the opening of the new Peach Pit After Dark nightclub. Also, Kelly's personal hostility towards Valerie escalates when she learns that Valerie spent Christmas in the Caribbean instead of visiting her family. When Kelly oversleeps one day and almost misses an exam, Valerie wakes up her just in time and Kelly half-heartedly thanks her. When Andrea and Jesse take Hannah to the hospital with a high fever, they come face to face with Peter, the guy Andrea flirted with at the laundromat, who happens to be an intern,

A motorcycle road trip inadvertently leads Brandon and Dylan to an ancient Native American ceremony where the two friends learn valuable lessons when they are arrested and subjected to community service (building a sweat lodge, which they then are invited to and do sit inside) for trespassing which helps reduce the tension between them. When Dylan gets home, Jonesy has a message for him from Mexico: he's located Dylan's missing cash and sister. Meanwhile, Valerie becomes interested in Ray and sets her sights to bag him behind Donna's back as she continues to help him overcome his stage fright on the eve of the opening of the new Peach Pit After Dark club. Kelly benefits from attending a psychology workshop seminar run by a famous, crippled psychology professor named Patrick Finley. Also, Steve finally makes up with his father.

Dylan and Valerie fly to Punta Brava, Mexico where they team up with Dylan's PI, J. Jay Jones, where they hope to plan and execute a complex caper to rescue Erica and reclaim Dylan's inheritance from Kevin and Suzanne who are hiding out down there. Jonesy and Valerie impersonate a tourist criminal couple on vacation where they pretend to run into Kevin and Suzanne (who are living there under their new aliases of Karl and Kitty Cavendish), in order to get the password for Kevin's offshore bank account where he is laundering Dylan's $7.7 million. However, Jonesy's plans starts to unravel when Dylan wants to rescue Erica from Kevin and Suzanne, which Jonesy does not want to be a part of. Back in California, Kelly becomes more deeply involved with Professor Finley's organization, leading to a rift in her relationship with Brandon who begins to distrust the egotistical professor.

Kelly distances herself from everyone that matters to her as Finley's charismatic hold on her grows stronger as he fights with Brandon and the college council to preserve his tenure. Meanwhile, the home-wrecking Ariel (guest star Kari Wuhrer) is back into Donna's life when she offers Ray a record deal. Also, the greedy Valerie seeks a reward for helping Dylan recover his stolen money and after receiving $10,000 from Dylan, she asks Jones for a much larger cut. Also, Andrea flirts with trouble when she starts having an affair with Peter while Jesse is away on business.

Brandon has the whole gang partake with him in a Valentine's Day call-in telethon that is held at the Peach Pit After Dark. Valerie moves out of the Walshes' and into a fancy hotel suite for herself. Brandon and Kelly's relationship troubles come to a head at Finley's new headquarters, and a heartbroken Brandon turns to an unlikely source for help. Meanwhile, when Donna refuses to sleep with Ray, his pent-up frustration inadvertently leads him to Valerie's hotel room. Ray's mother, LuAnn, figures out that he cheated on Donna, but covers for him. Also, Andrea and Jesse have a run-in with Peter and his wife. Elsewhere, Steve tries to secure the R&B group Jade for a Valentine's Day telethon at the Peach Pit After Dark.