There's a party at one of Thomas' club nights and all the gang are there; Cook is still up to no good, Freddie is learning increasingly more about love and the girls are busy dancing. An accident during the evening, however, leaves Thomas feeling guilty and alienated from the rest of the group. Will their friendship survive?
Emily and Naomi return home but are called in for questioning by the police. Emily discovers that Naomi was dealing drugs and that Sophia was pretending to be friends with them. Cook and Freddie try to keep away from Effy but neither can resist for long resulting in a fight. Emily finds a Naomi shrine in Sophia's locker.
After failing to reign in his jealousy of Freddie and Effy's reunion and hospitalising the kid he beat up in a room full of witnesses, Cook finds himself in prison. When released on bail, he is forced to live with his mother due to the terms of his electronic tag. His mum is a successful artist who owns a mansion, but it's no holiday for Cook; he and his mum clash again and again. With few people to talk to, Cook is helped by an unlikely ally and begins to question his actions.
Katie Fitch has a problem. Katie’s family’s bankrupt, and they’ve got nowhere to live. And under the strain of it all, Jenna and Rob seem to be headed for splitsville and James Fitch is scared.
Freddie and Effy use the Stonem house as a private place to drink, dance and fuck. Freddie is worried that he's failing his college work. Effy begins to act strangely, switching between depression and delusion and always drinking alcohol. After arguing with his dad and seeking advice from his grandfather, Freddie tries to fix things with Effy, to no avail. Cook becomes unusually compassionate and talks to Freddie about Effy, putting aside his own feelings for her.
JJ is in love. But he thinks that the lovely Lara Lloyd is out of his league and lacks the courage to ask her out. After finally plucking up the courage, JJ realises that he's got to do it all by himself. Almost by himself anyway. But it's JJ's friends and family who are really messing things up.
Effy has been in a psychiatric hospital recovering since she tried to take her own life. After lots of sessions with her counsellor John Foster, he tells her she is ready to go back home. Effy is worried she could slip back into her previous state, but John assures her that as long as she is disciplined she will be ok, and she will still visit him for sessions.
With A-level results in for most of the gang, thoughts about the past and the future are on their minds. Slowly the gang end up in the one place that makes sense. In their final moments, they are reunited once more and anything could happen. But one thing's for sure, it will be eventful, and for some, there's no going back.