As the season began, wealthy
patriarch Douglas Wheeler, was gunned down by an unseen assailant whilst
boarding his private jet to New York. The main suspect was Douglas' scheming wife Julia Wheeler who was having an
affair with the handsome stablehand Guy Richardson. Douglas' murder cast a
shadow over the disfunctional family and events took a bizarre twist when his
will cited his divorced sister Lauren Erikson as heiress to the family fortune.
Julia and the family lawyer David Elliott attempted to switch the wills
preventing this but Douglas' brother Michael scuppered their plans. Julia and
her two children, Jake and Jessica were left with nothing. Lauren
was living in Los Angeles where she had a career as a news
anchorwoman. She had abandoned the Wheeler family after being raped
by her mother's lover, Ian Sanderson at 15. However she gave this up and moved to the family estate in the Napa Valley with
her writer fiance Mark Fielding. With the help of David with whom she was also
having an affair, Julia attempted to ruin Lauren's life at every turn. She
encouraged Jake to undermine Lauren's position at the Wheeler Corporation and
hired a prostitute named Morgan Janssen to pose as Mark's new editor and seduce
him. The plan worked and Lauren discovered that Morgan was in fact pregnant with
Mark's child. Lauren threw Mark out and was surprised when her money hungry
ex-husband John Erikson arrived in the valley. He seemed to have changed his
ways and the two became engaged. Morgan was the unfortunate victim of a hit and
run, causing her to miscarry Mark's baby. Lauren was arrested at her wedding to
John for attempted murder but was freed when Morgan's dead body was discovered
whilst Lauren was being held in custody. Julia planted a note for Lauren to find
making her think that Mark was the killer and she went to Morgan's apartment for
proof. However she discovered that the murderer was in fact Morgan's former pimp
Darren Kelly and after attempting to kill Lauren, Darren was arrested. Meanwhile, a mysterious
organization named the Delta Group began to terrorize the Wheeler family in an
attempt to drain money from the Wheeler Corporation. When Michael and Lauren
went to New York to investigate, attempts were made on their lives. Nick Remick,
a spy whom Julia had planted in the company was also murdered as a warning to
the Wheelers. Events came to a head when the Delta Group planted a bomb in an
elevator shaft at the Wheeler Corporation which exploded. Luckily, nobody was
injured but upon wiring protection money to the organization, Lauren discovered
that Julia had been defrauding the Wheeler Foundation to provide money for the
Delta Group. After Morgan was murdered, Darren Kelly confessed that the hit had
been engineered by the Delta Group and we soon discovered that the organization
was headed by none other than Julia Wheeler. She used it to take money from the
Wheeler Corporation. David found out and asked for a piece of the action. The
pair also had Douglas declared mentally incompetent at the time of his death,
meaning that Julia would seize control of the Wheeler Corporation. Julia's son Jake was engaged to trashy
gold-digger Cassie Bennett but she was bored with her lifestyle and found
herself attracted to Guy Richardson. Jake found the pair in bed and after
passing out drunk, Cassie used the opportunity to take Jake to Las Vegas and
marry him, securing her share of the Wheeler fortune. Cassie was unaware that
Jake knew of her affair and plotted her downfall. However things were
complicated when Cassie became pregnant and was unsure who was the father. Jake
told Cassie he knew about the affair and offered her $1 million to leave town
when the baby was born. To get revenge on Guy, Jake went to the Delta Group and
was given information surrounding Guy's parentage. Guy was in fact the son of
matriarch Isabelle Wheeler and Jake announced the news upon Isabelle's return to
the valley. The full story of Guy's parentage can be found in the mini-series Back
to the Past. David's mentally unstable
wife Stephanie Elliott became insanely jealous of her husband's affair with
Julia Wheeler and was pushed further into insanity on discovering that her
beloved son Tommy had begun a relationship with Julia's caring daughter Jessica.
This relationship helped Jessica cope when she was raped by an unknown assailant
mid-season. The culprit committed suicide in jail leaving Jessica racked with
guilt. Stephanie attacked Julia at the mansion with a knife but was taken away
before causing any serious damage. All season, she plotted revenge against Julia
and attempted to hang onto her husband. David later discovered from Stephanie's
wealthy parents, Robert and Leslie Grainger that Stephanie had in fact been
adopted as a baby. David relished telling Mark Fielding that he was in fact
Stephanie's brother. The relationship provided a lifeline for
Stephanie. As the season drew to a
close, Isabelle revealed to Lauren that she had murdered her rapist Ian
Sanderson and his body was buried on the grounds of the Wheeler estate.
Unbenknowst to them, they were overheard by Guy Richardson who found the body.
Julia announced to Lauren on her wedding day that she was now in control of the
Wheeler Corporation thanks to David's legal maneouvre. After the breakup of her
marriage to David, Stephanie discovered that Mark was leaving town because of
Julia's machinations and headed to the mansion with a gun. She found Jessica and
headed to the church where Lauren's wedding to John was taking place. Cassie was
left pregnant and unaware of the paternity. Jake and Guy had a violent
confrontation in the stables resulting in Guy falling from the platform onto
concrete below. Jake left Guy bloodied and unconscious and went to the wedding.
Mark returned to help a concerned Tommy stop Stephanie's plans. Stephanie
reached the church with Jessica and shot at Julia but accidentally hit Lauren.
Using Jessica as a hostage, Stephanie spread gasoline around the church and
started a fire. Julia pushed her daughter out of the way but in her struggle
with Stephanie for the gun, Michael was shot. Stephanie took Julia hostage at
gunpoint and drove away as the church became engulfed by flames. Mark, Tommy and
the police followed in quick pursuit but Stephanie lost control of the car,
plunging off a pier at the San Francisco bay and ending up in the river. Thus the season ended with several lives
in peril. Would Julia and Stephanie escape from the river? Was Guy killed in the
fall? Who survived the church fire? All was revealed in the
Season 2 premiere episode, Aftermath.
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