An armed intruder breaks into the McAllister home and accosts 15-year-old Lily, demanding to know the whereabouts of a woman pictured in a locket. She locks herself in the bathroom to escape him, and he eventually shoots himself. The man is identified as Philip Parker, a mentally ill drifter. The family becomes extremely tight-lipped about the subject; and is able to keep the incident out of the press because Lily's grandfather, George Greeley, owns the newspaper. Henry Bellow, a new student in Lily's class, confronts her with research about the Greeley family. He forces Lily to accept the fact that her family has undertaken a number of devious maneuvers throughout the years. Lily realizes that they have made a number of enemies, and suspects that Parker may not have chosen her house randomly. Lily's family freezes the bank account of her uncle Nate, the ""black sheep,"" after he resumes his drug use. He steals a necklace from Lily's mother, Catherine. He pleads with Lily to kee

Lily looks through the yearbook that Henry gave her and recognizes the girl in the locket as Meredith Weller, one of Catherine's classmates. The locket and yearbook disappear from Lily's room. Catherine denies taking anything, but Lily finds both items in her parents' bedroom. Catherine tells Lily that Meredith was her best friend in high school. She disappeared, and Catherine was certain that she was murdered by her boyfriend, Philip Parker. Philip was never arrested, but blamed Catherine for turning the town against him. She insists that he broke into the house with the intention of killing her. Henry doesn't believe that Lily should be too quick to accept Catherine's story. Henry and Lily share a kiss. Catherine later tries to dissuade Henry from investigating the family, claiming that Lily is too fragile to handle it. Catherine destroys all of the negative articles about the Greeleys, as well as the locket. The Sun's board of directors, concerned by George's heart condit

Lily sees Henry taking more photographs as part of his search. She grows bewildered when Henry refuses to tell her anything about himself. She and Jennie break into his bedroom to investigate, but his brother Tom catches them. A furious Henry lashes out at Lily. He reveals that both of his parents are dead. He and Tom moved to Pasadena after their father died so that he could get a good education. Henry and Lily apologize to each other, and decide to continue investigating Meredith Weller's disappearance. They discover that there are those who believe she might still be alive. Lily seeks answers from Nate, who says that Philip Parker was rumored to have told the police that he dropped Meredith off at the Greeley house, meaning that he wasn't the last person to see her alive. Catherine goes to the school to learn more about Henry. She asks him if he is searching for his mother, and he admits that she is still alive. He accepts Catherine's offer to help. Jayleen sues Robert f

Henry shows Catherine an old home movie of his mother. He explains that she had been sending checks to Tom and Henry for years, but has not attempted any personal contact. Catherine notices a resemblance between casual acquaintance Page Harter and the woman in the film. She invites Page to George's retirement party, and suggests that Henry talk with her. Lily grows suspicious about Henry's meetings with Catherine. Lily looks up Philip Parker's mother and goes to her house with Jennie. Mrs. Parker angrily declares that Catherine is responsible for her son's demise, and advises Lily to ask her about Meredith's disappearance. Catherine grows tired of Lily's questions. Lillian convinces Robert that Catherine pushed for Will to get the job as publisher. Robert meets with Jayleen and offers to help her get her job back. He insists that he only forced her out as a favor to Will. Nate wakes up next to a big naked guy after a night of partying. The man demands payment for the 2000 d

Catherine has a dream in which she is seduced by Henry, but ends up in bed with Robert. She also dreams that a dead girl, covered with blood, barges into the room. The next morning, she apologizes to Henry for coming on to him, and tries to claim that she was drunk. He leaves in a panic. Henry and Lily grow closer. Tom spends several days at Beth's apartment, and doesn't let his brother know his whereabouts. After Henry comes over for dinner, Catherine insists that he stay the night again so that he won't be alone. She goes into his room and starts kissing him while he sleeps. Henry bolts the scene and decides to walk home in the middle of the night. Catherine takes Lily to see Meredith Weller's mother, who talks about how close the girls were and says that she is certain that Philip Parker killed her daughter. Lily feels guilty about doubting her mother, but still isn't sure that she believes her. Lily convinces Henry to confront Page Harter. She admits that she is his mot

Catherine grows jealous of Lily's relationship with Henry. He tells Catherine that he will keep the fact that she came on to him a secret for Lily's sake; but rebuffs her claim that what she did wasn't all that out of the ordinary. Catherine convinces Will that Henry is pressuring Lily to have sex, so Will bars Lily from seeing him. Henry threatens to tell Lily about Catherine's attempted seduction of him unless she backs off. Catherine vows to make his life a living hell. She tries to get him thrown out of school. After learning that Tom is Beth's boyfriend, she showers him with kindness, offering to help him return to college and get a job at the newspaper. She turns Tom against Henry by telling him about Henry's search for their mother. Catherine agrees to help Robert with a last-ditch attempt to become publisher of the Sun. She invites Robert to a dinner with Jack Cameron, President of Reese Corp., and his wife; and tells Robert that Phyllis Cameron is an abusive drunk who

George and Lillian return home to find Nate digging in the backyard. He annoys them by repeatedly bringing up the murder and nagging them to tell him the truth. Jennie tells Lily and Henry about Nate's flashback about the body in the pool. Henry goes to talk to him about it. George finally decides that Nate has to leave. Lillian breaks the news to Nate, and admits (in a way) that his recollections about that night are not a dream. Will accepts Catherine's denial of Lily's accusations, and bars Lily from seeing Henry forever. Lily's resentment of Catherine grows. A panicked Catherine calls Robert and laments the fact that they can never seem to escape the past. Robert promises that Henry will not be a problem for long. Catherine helps Tom get a college scholarship and a well-paying job. Henry warns Tom about Catherine and pleads with him not to fall for her charms. Tom tells him off and accuses him of only caring about himself. Catherine gets Henry expelled from school. He

Henry and Lily leave the bones behind as Lily calls the police. Robert steals the bones in the meantime and destroys them. Catherine insists that Nate has given drugs to Lily and Henry. Nate shows up at his parents' house stoned. He is arrested and held overnight. The cops and Will believe Catherine's claims that Henry is turning Lily against her. Although he wants to stay with Lily, the cops take Henry away to have a ""talk"" with him. Will also orders him to stay away forever. Lily begins screaming at Catherine and accusing her of murder, so the family doctor gives her a shot to knock her out. He prescribes pills, which Catherine slips into Lily's food and orange juice. Catherine denies Lily's charges, and convinces Will that Henry is trying to destroy Lily's life out of jealousy. Will goes to Henry's house to confront him, but only finds Tom. Tom apologizes for not watching Henry more carefully. Catherine tells Lily that she told her where to look for the body in the hope

Lily sends Henry an E-mail reminding him of his promise not to abandon her. Catherine still wants to send Lily to Maplewood (the institution), but Will insists that it would be better to just have her see a psychiatrist. Lily overhears their discussion. She promptly apologizes for her outburst at school, and claims that she feels better. She tells Jennie that she has decided--for her own good--to follow her mother's example and pretend that everything is normal. Jennie complains about being left out of the loop, so Lily enlists her help to break into the principal's office and look through Henry's files. She doesn't find anything implicating her mother. Jennie helps Lily as a lookout, but later upsets her by bragging about the experience to some girls. Robert assures Catherine that Henry will no longer be a problem, but says that he is tired of covering up her mess. Catherine hisses that it isn't ""her"" mess. Will wants to postpone a trip to New York so that he can stay close

Glenn tells Catherine that he is married, and that his wife is coming to L.A. later in the day. She convinces him that they should have sex again before his wife gets there. Will arrives home early from his trip, and almost catches them going at it on the table. Catherine claims that Glenn was trying to hit her up for a donation. Will finds this dubious, and grows more suspicious after Mason mentions that Glenn had dinner at the house while Will was away. Catherine claims that she has been going to Glenn for counseling. Will goes to see Glenn and asks him to lead them in couples counseling. He invites Glenn and his wife to the family's weekly dinner. Catherine is opposed to the idea of couples therapy, but has to agree to it to cover up the affair. Jennie stays at the McAllister house after her diplomat father is kidnapped in Belize. She feels guilty because she had wished for more excitement in her life. However, she relishes the attention she receives at school. Jennie ca

Henry tells Lily that Robert beat him up and threatened to kill him unless he left Pasadena. Robert bragged that he had already gotten away with murder once, and could do it again. Henry blackmailed his mother into giving him money so that he could stay at a hotel. Henry also reveals that Dr. Darwell was the psychiatrist who institutionalized Philip Parker, and is likely in on the cover-up. Lily recalls Mrs. Weller saying that Robert had a crush on Meredith, and concludes that Robert killed her in a rage after she rejected his advances. Jennie learns that her father was not kidnapped; her mother simply forgot that he had gone away on a business trip because she had taken too many pills. Lily has Jennie pretend that her father is in danger so that Lily can use her low morale as an excuse to get out of the house. Henry finds Tom and tells him what happened to him. Lily refuses to open up to Dr. Darwell, who then calls Catherine to warn her. Lily goes to visit Henry. Unfortunate

Robert attacks Henry and puts him in a headlock, but Henry bites Robert's arm and is able to fight him off and escape. He sneaks over to the McAllister house and tells Lily what happened. Robert comes over at the same time, and commiserates with Catherine, who tells him about the collapse of her marriage. They agree that they must kill Henry to protect the family's secrets. Henry tells Tom that Robert attacked him, but asks him to go to work and act as though nothing has happened while he and Lily retrieve the evidence. Charlie orders Lily to forget about the tapes. He knows that revealing the truth would destroy both of their families, and will have no part in it. He insists that they shouldn't care about exacting justice for Meredith Weller's death, because it happened long ago and they didn't know her. Lily sneaks out of class to break into the Darwell house with Henry. She is reluctant, but Henry reminds her that he will be on the run for the rest of his life unless her fa

Richard and Nate try to comfort the disconsolate Beth, and eventually resort to giving her drugs to calm her nerves. Lily meets Robert for lunch--claiming that she knows Henry's whereabouts--and gets him to admit to killing Meredith Weller. She also talks to Lillian, and gets her confession about her role in the cover-up on tape. Henry goes to Beth's house in search of Tom, and learns of his death from Nate and the sobbing Beth. He races over to the McAllister house in a rage and attacks Catherine, accusing her of killing Tom. She insists that she knows nothing about this, and winds up cowering in the bathroom in fear while Henry tries to break down the door. Will comes to the house a few minutes after Henry finally leaves, and comforts Catherine. She convinces him to come back home and continue to live their ""beautiful lie"" of a life. George holds a meeting to announce Robert's appointment as publisher. Henry bursts in and accuses Robert of killing Tom. Robert admits the tru