An amorous Jack surprises Katie at the studio and asks Katie if she'll spend the night with him in Chicago. When Jack leaves for the station, Brad asks Katie to forgive him. She says no – she can't trust him. Katie tells Brad that she's over guys like him – the unreliable, "fun" guys. Later, Katie confides in Henry that things are beginning to take off for Jack and her but Henry bursts her bubble. Vienna finds Henry and tells him that the crown jewels of Leonia have been returned to her. They bring the jewels to Jack who's skeptical as to their authenticity. Jack, angry at the thought that Simon and Carly might be risking the freedom that he enabled them, issues an A.P.B. Later, Jack returns home where he comes face to face with Carly. Emily and Dusty wake up together having spent the night watching over Alison. Later over breakfast with Alison, Emily thanks Dusty for his help. Susan arrives and misreads the sweet moment, assuming that they're dating. Susan, who's noticed that Alison doesn't look well, is concerned that she's not making friends. Meanwhile, Alison is startled when Lance arrives asking about his favorite movie star.

Katie insists to Henry that she's not worried about Carly coming back to Jack. Katie reassures herself that Jack is moving on with her. Meanwhile, Margo gets the report on the authenticity of the crown jewels, and wonders if the prince will drop the charges against Simon and Carly. Meanwhile, Carly tells Jack she's back to stay. She reveals that she left Simon and came home because she missed the kids so much. Jack makes it clear she's not free of criminal charges and leads Carly into the station, moving past Katie without noticing she's there. Vienna tells Maddie if the necklace turns out to be the Leonian crown jewels, Vienna is free to leave Oakdale. Maddie urges Henry to stop Vienna before he loses the woman he loves. Henry tries to tell Vienna he doesn't want her to leave, but loses his nerve. Ali tries to get rid of Lance who wants her to return to Vegas. Lance offers Ali an adult-movie deal, money and a first class ride to Vegas, saying she doesn't belong in Oakdale. Ali takes off. Meanwhile, Dusty suggests that he and Emily tell Susan the truth about their non-relationship. They agree to "break up" at dinner with Susan to distract her from asking more questions about Alison.

Lily meets with Lucinda and hands her a business plan she developed to start a new company. Lucinda's response of "the hell we can" lets Lily know that her idea is not welcome. Lily tries to persuade Lucinda to move on and leave Craig alone, but Lucinda tells her she will take care of Craig and not to worry about anything but her family. Lily leaves to meet up with Holden and the kids as Lucinda goes to speak to Paul and Meg to work on her plot to destroy Craig.

After a romantic night, Meg gets dressed to leave, but Paul tries to convince her to stay longer. Their conversation is interrupted by a phone call from Craig. He asks Meg to come by his office right away so he can tell her something important. Paul and Meg argue over Meg going to Craig's office and whether or not she is still working to take Craig down. Meg tells Paul that she wants Craig to tell her why he "freaked out" about Rosanna and hopefully he will go to jail. Paul lets Meg know that she is obsessed with getting back at Craig and she needs to slow down and let it go. He tries to convince her to stay with him and start their life together. After asking Meg to stay, Paul leaves the room to take a shower and a knock on the door from Lucinda is answered by Meg. Lucinda pushes Meg to keep her appointment with Craig and at first she resists saying she loves Paul and wants to do what he asks. Lucinda makes Meg believe that Craig could potentially hurt Paul if she doesn't help destroy him. This comment sends Meg off to World Wide to meet with Craig. Paul comes back into the room expecting Meg, but finds Lucinda snacking on his breakfast and becomes angry with her for sending Meg back into Craig's path. He is convinced that if Craig learns of Meg's involvement in their plan he will kill her.

At World Wide, Craig presents Meg with flowers and asks her to accept them as a new beginning. He compliments her on her loyalty and confesses that he has had a private detective follower her and after he learned she went to the farm last night he now believes she isn't working with Lucinda and Paul. Meg is angry at Craig's announcement and even though he asks for a new beginning she tells him they are not friends and she doesn't forgive him. Craig asks Meg why she changed her mind and then accuses her of really being involved with Paul and Lucinda. She tells him this has nothing to do with Paul, but is all about how Craig doesn't trust her and keeps setting traps to catch her in a lie. Craig is angered by Meg, but she tells him that the real problem is that he stole the company from Lily. He is devastated by Meg's admonishment and tells her to leave. Outside of Craig's office Paul listens to Meg tell Craig off and then returns to the hotel. Once Meg gets back to the room she tells Lucinda she can't be Craig's friend anymore and she wants to live her life and be with Paul. She tells Lucinda it is over and a frustrated Lucinda leaves Paul and Meg alone to celebrate their new beginning which for Paul includes a marriage proposal. Back at World Wide an angry Craig calls Margo to meet him for dinner, but she bluntly dismisses him and turns her attentions back to Katie. Craig walks around his office and realizes he is completely alone.

Jack escorts Carly into the station and as he takes her into the interrogation room he sees Katie and goes to speak to her. He tells her about Carly's return and that she claims she has come back for good. Katie asks Jack about whether Carly will be going to jail or not, but he tells her he isn't sure. Jack informs Katie that they will have to postpone their plans for Chicago and she is clearly disappointed. Before she can leave Jack tells her not to worry, but Katie is noticeably threatened by Carly's return. Margo and Jack inform Carly that the return of the necklace inspired the prince to drop the charges against her and Simon. At first Carly is pleased and she goes to leave to find a place to stay, but Jack reminds her she isn't free to go and is still under arrest. Jack advises Carly of all the damage she has done not only to herself, but also to their kids. He tells her he won't let her endanger his job or the kids again. Carly asks to see the kids, but Jack tells her it isn't a good idea to see them before she goes to lock-up. She pleads with Jack to just let her tell the kids she loves them and thought about them everyday. In the end Jack is convinced to bring the kids in and calls Emma to bring them down to the station. Emma arrives with the kids and Jack tries to prepare them for seeing Carly, but before he has a chance to tell them anything Sage sees Carly and she and JJ run to see their mom. Parker stands in disbelief and angrily shakes his head at the sight of his mother. Sage and JJ happily tell Carly about their lives since she has been gone and ask her if she is coming home. To this question Parker speaks up and declares Carly a thief and a liar who isn't coming home. He tells her they were all starting to be happy and she should have just stayed away. Parker rushes out of the station at Carly calls after him.

Back at her house Katie throws dresses aside as Margo arrives to check on her sister. Margo accuses Katie of freaking out, but she denies it and asks her sister about Carly's charges. She learns the charges have been dropped and is upset that Carly is getting off without going to jail. Margo reminds Katie that Carly still has additional charges pending against her. She also tells her sister to be understanding about Carly's return and believe that Jack isn't canceling their new relationship; he is just postponing a date. Katie lets Margo know that she is really concerned about the fact that Jack turned Carly away from her when they came into the police station, as if he didn't want Carly to know that he and Katie were seeing each other. Margo asks Katie to put herself in Jack's shoes and asks her how she would react if Mike returned. Before Katie can answer the door bell rings and she receives divorce papers signed by Mike reassuring everyone that he is not coming back.

Holden is concerned that Craig will seek revenge on Meg, but Meg thinks Lucinda will figure out how to handle him Craig. Meanwhile, Bob finds Lucinda rifling through the drug cabinet and is concerned. Lucinda takes a packet of tablets from drug cabinet and later put them in Craig's coffee. Craig collapses and Lucinda toasts to his demise. Later, Meg finds Craig on the floor and realizes Lucinda did something to him. Gwen finds out Cleo is still in town. While selling her belongings, Cleo is threatened with arrest for peddling. Cleo stops, but is then mugged. Will catches her when she faints, but when Cleo won't go to the hospital, Will says he'll take her home. Later, Gwen finds Cleo and Will together. Sympathetic Gwen tells Cleo to stay with them. Vienna tells Henry she's leaving Oakdale, and Henry signs her money back over to her. Henry says goodbye. But later, he admits his feelings to Vienna and they reunite.

Dusty runs into Lucinda at the Lakeview, where she is drinking champagne in a fine mood, and he asks why she's so happy. She tells him she has a new outlook and thinks they may be working together again soon. He tells her he's meeting Emily, Susan, and Alison for drinks and dinner, and Lucinda says it sounds like a date meeting the family; she suggests he take off his wedding ring, saying Jennifer would want him to move on and be happy.

Alison meets up with Emily at the Lakeview and asks why Susan thinks Emily and Dusty are dating. Emily tells her about their kiss at the hotel when they were trying to keep her from finding a detox-ing Alison. She tells Alison that Dusty is "breaking up" with her tonight so Susan can quit thinking they're a couple, but Alison says Emily should be the one to do the pretend breaking up, because she's a beautiful and awesome woman. They spot Dusty and walk over to join him. After they sit down, Alison starts feeling bad, so she says she thinks she'll walk to a nearby meeting that starts in 10 minues then go on home and rest; Emily offers to drive her, but Alison says she'll be okay walking the few blocks by herself, with no money on her. Susan arrives, and Alison explains that she doesn't feel good and is going home. After she leaves, Susan starts grilling Emily and Dusty about when they discovered they loved each other, so Dusty tells her they basically just had a 1-night stand and have agreed that that should be all it is. Susan is upset that Dusty has used Emily in this way, but Emily says they both agreed it was for the best; Susan tells Dusty if he became friends with Emily and became her lover and still didn't realize that it's never about just sex with Emily, then he doesn't know her daughter very well. She leaves, and Dusty tells Emily he's glad that's over before Susan got too invested in the idea of them as a couple, since that could never be. When she presses him for a reason, he says because they work together and he respects her too much to upset that relationship, but she thinks it's because he used to be married to a virtual saint and that he can't begin to imagine being with an ex-hooker. When she asks if he could imagine that one day, as good friends, he might turn to her in need, he says he's just not looking for a relationship right now. Emily says she's not hungry any more, then she gets up and leaves. Dusty shakes his head and mutters to himself, "Nice work, kid."

When Alison starts to leave the Lakeview, she runs into her old pornography producer, Lance, who tells her he wants to party with her. When she says she doesn't want to, he says he'll just go get her mom and sister instead, so she goes upstairs with him. He offers her a vial of crystal meth, but she refuses, saying she's trying to make something better of her life. He tells her she won't be able to do that in a dead-end town, denying her true self, and he kisses her. She kisses him back but then stops, telling him he should never have followed her here from Las Vegas. He threatens to show one of her porn movies to Susan, and Ali is disgusted that he'd be that much of a sleaze, but she tells him to get the hell out of her life, and she walks out of the room.

At Montgomery Enterprises, Meg finds Craig unconscious on the floor of his office and tells a secretary to call 9-1-1 while she begins giving CPR. Because of Craig's symptoms, Meg takes out her epi pen and gives him a shot of epinephrine, thinking he's having some type of allergic reaction. When the paramedics arrive, Craig begins to come around, and they rush him to the hospital. Meg looks around and sees Craig's coffee cup; looking in it, she sees something suspicious and sniffs the coffee. She then tracks down Lucinda at the Lakeview and shows her a vial with the coffee in it, telling her she thinks she's poisoned Craig. Lucinda says she doesn't know what Meg's talking about, but if she had done something to Craig, she wouldn't have done it with the intention of killing him but only of incapacitating him and scaring him. Meg tells Lucinda she'll make sure this never happens again, and Lucinda asks if that's a threat; when Meg says it is, Lucinda warns her that a friend of her enemy is also her enemy, and she says Meg won't want that. Meg starts to call Jack, but Lucinda stops her, and Meg says she needs Lucinda to promise that she'll never try to hurt Craig again. Lucinda says she can't promise that, because Craig is a thief in the night who stole her company, and her soul, if she has one, is wrapped up in her company. Meg says Lucinda's freedom is more important than her company, and so is Craig's. Lucinda agrees and asks Meg to give her the vial of coffee, saying she'll promise to "go forth and sin no more," but Meg says she thinks she'll keep the vial, for Lucinda's sake. Meg goes to the hospital, where she finds Susan taking care of Craig. When Craig starts to come around, Susan tells him Meg saved his life, and then she leaves; Meg walks up to Craig's bedside, and Craig reaches out and takes her hand.

Vienna goes to see Katie to tell her that she and Henry are back together. However, when she finds out that Carly's back in town without Simon, she warns Katie that Carly will do whatever it takes to get Jack back, and she tells Katie that she should go to the station to keep an eye on them.

Jack brings Parker, Sage, and JJ back to the farm after driving around talking to them for a while. Sage is upset that Carly can't come home with them, and Parker is a smart aleck about it again. Sage runs upstairs, and Parker says he's going to go check on the cows. He runs into Brad on Emma's porch and tells him the news about Carly being home but in jail. Inside, JJ practically begs Jack to do whatever it takes to bring Carly back home. As Jack leaves, he bumps into Brad, who tells him he's making a mistake if he goes to the station to try to help Carly, and he says Jack should wash his hands of Carly after all that she's done. Jack tells him that when he wants Brad's advice, he'll ask for it, then leaves. A while later, Katie arrives, looking for Jack. Brad tells her he's gone to the station to see Carly, and he tells her that she should run while she has the chance, because what she had with Jack is over. He tells her he thinks Jack will try to find out if Carly is really done with Simon, and if she is, then he'll tell Carly that he has a new "honey," and sit back to watch her fight to get him back. Katie tells Brad he's wrong and to go to hell, then she leaves and goes to the police station.

At the police station, a defense attorney is trying to get Carly to tell him the whole story about her assault on Jack the day she escaped and ran off with Simon, but Carly is distracted, thinking about her kids. The attorney tells Carly that with the charges against her, she might get 25 years to life in prison. Jack arrives and asks the attorney if he can talk to Carly; the attorney says that's a bad idea, but both Jack and Carly convince him to leave. When he does, Jack tells Carly that every day since she left, he'd wake up thinking this would be the day that he would finally be enough for his kids --- that this would be the day he wouldn't forget an appointment or forget to put some food in a lunchbox, or that this would be the day Parker would finally smile again --- but he was never enough for them; they missed their mom. Carly says that's a nice way of pointing out that they needed her, and she knew that, and yet she still left them. She says at least from now on, they'll know where she is (in jail), and they'll still have Jack every morning when they wake up, and he will be giving more than enough of himself for them. Jack says he's given it a lot of thought, and maybe he can help her after all. He wants to hire Tom Hughes to defend her instead of her current lawyer, and he says that if she signs an official statement that she only helped Simon because he coerced her, he thinks she can get the charges dropped. Carly protests that Simon didn't coerce her and says she doesn't want to lie about that. Jack says that in the justice system, someone has to be blamed for a crime, and he asks if she thinks Simon should pay that price or their kids. Carly is worried that if she signs a statement like that and Simon is later found and arrested, he could be charged with kidnapping her, and she doesn't want him to go to jail for something he didn't do. Jack thanks her for showing him how she really feels, and he starts to walk out, but she stops him and agrees to say whatever Jack thinks she needs to say so their kids will be okay. Carly thanks Jack for everything, and Jack says he's made mistakes, too, and he's sorry, and he's glad she's home. He walks out and sees Katie, who has come into the station and has seen Jack and Carly talking in the interrogation room. Katie says, "Whatever Carly just asked you to do, don't do it!"