While a critically injured Paul wonders if Meg was able to find the gun and help him convince the world he committed suicide, he becomes impatient and takes off to find her. At the same time, Meg is caught by the police with the gun in hand but her quick thinking enables her to keep the gun hidden. Paul arrives and just when it seems the cops might discover him, word comes in that a car was discovered up the stream and the cops take off. Paul realizes what Emily must have done with his car and seeing that his plan could still work, he plants his fingerprints on the gun and leaves it for discovery. Meg helps out a weakened Paul and the connection between them continues to grow strong. Carly and Nick have accidentally fallen to the ground on top of each other when Mike and Katie enter. When they're alone, Katie calls Nick on his interest in Carly. Nick insists Katie is worried about nothing, but Katie remains concerned. Meanwhile, back home, Carly doesn't reveal to Jack that Nick was involved in her twisting her ankle. Later, however, Jack does discover the truth from Mike and confronts Carly on her lie. Holden worries about Kevin's role in Luke's life but decides to spend more time with his son and help him through this seemingly rough patch in his life. Later, Holden suggests that he and Luke do something and Luke readily agrees, without revealing he had already been invited to a party with Kevin. But, Kevin appears with a bottle of vodka, hurt that Luke doesn't want to party and Luke ends off going out with his friend after all. Kim discovers Gwen and Will sleeping on a bench and tries to get them to come home with her. They refuse, but agree to some hot chocolate at the Lakeview. Wanting to help, Lisa invites Gwen to stay at the Lakeview as her guest.
By the time Jack hears about how Carly and Nick were spotted in a compromising position at the police station, he's had about enough of the guy moving in on his territory. But just when it looks like he can't take any more, he gets a call from Hal asking him to clock in on the Paul Ryan case. Meanwhile, Paul's hoping the police will assume by what he left behind that he killed himself. Paul sends Meg off to see if the cops are buying the story. To her dismay, she discovers that while Nick believes it, Jack insists that with a guy like Paul Ryan, things aren't always as they appear. But, Hal seems to agree with Nick's theory of suicide and when Jack questions whether this has more to do with Emily then with finding Paul, a defensive Hal blows up at Jack, giving the body search one more night before ordering the case closed. At the Lakeview, Lisa, like Kim, is only willing to put either Gwen or Will up in her hotel. Gwen surprises Will by taking her up on her offer on the condition that Lisa throw a job into the offer. Lisa initially hesitates hiring an underage teenager, but eventually agrees. Later, despite Gwen's conviction this is what's best for both she and Will, they realize it's time to say good night and it's clear neither one is looking forward to the night alone. Margo finds Casey in bed asleep and assumes he made curfew. What she doesn't know is the clump under the sheets is Maddie, who's covering for Casey. When Casey finally does get home, it looks like Maddie might give him away for being an ungrateful lout. But, he redeems himself and thanks her for getting his back, suggesting, without any protest from Maddie, she stay in his room until they know his parents are really asleep.
Lucinda enters her pool house to find an empty vodka bottle, Luke, and Kevin. Lucinda wakes them and Kevin leaves. Lucinda says she's going to tell Holden. Luke wants her to tell Lily, but Lucinda refuses. Luke finally asks her to leave Kevin out of the equation. Lucinda agrees because she's concerned for Luke, not his friend. Lucinda wants to discuss the reasons for his behavior, but Luke goes to get cleaned up before his father arrives.
Casey wakes up on the floor, and Maddie wakes up on his bed. Casey's neck is sore, so Maddie gives his a massage. Margo knocks on the door. Casey quickly dresses and lets her in. Maddie said she was borrowing a book and leaves. Margo finds her hair clip on the bed and tells Casey, he and Maddie should not be alone together. Casey says Maddie is like an annoying little sister. Maddie, who standing in the hall fantasizing about Casey, overhears this statement.
At The Lakeview, Emily leaves to get $10,000, so Henry can pay the mob. When she leaves, Henry overhears Hal's message to Jennifer regarding Paul. Henry leaves to warn Emily.
In the Cabin, Paul and Meg listen to the radio for news about his case. When they don't have any news, Paul tells Meg she's fired. He doesn't want her to be caught with him. Before she leaves Paul begins to cough. She exams him and discovers he has pneumonia. She leaves to get medication.
At the Oakdale P.D., Hal tells Barbara, Jennifer and Dusty that Paul committed suicide. Dusty is skeptical. Hal tells them they found the car, a gun, a bloody shirt and body tissue. Barbara leaves the room, to prepare a statement, and tells Hal she will tell Will. Dusty comforts Jennifer. Jennifer feels guilty about how she treated Paul. Barbara returns and says Emily is to blame.
At the Stewart house, Henry tells Emily about Hal's message to Jennifer. Emily begins to panic and starts packing. Henry is desperate for the money, but she won't give it to him. Hal arrives and asks Emily is she's leaving town. Henry covers for Emily, stating she's donating the clothes to charity. Emily tells Henry where he can find a 'bag.' Hal tells Emily Paul is dead, she says she can explain.
Back at the cabin, Paul finally hears the news about his suicide.
Meg meets a man to buy medicine. She turns to leave and runs into Dusty.
Dusty confronts Meg about the medication from Eli and her ability to afford living at the Lakeview, but Meg declares that what she does is no longer any of his business. Meanwhile, after deciding with Barbara to have a memorial service for Paul, Jennifer goes to tell Dusty about it and Meg overhears. Dusty insists Paul doesn't deserve a service, but Jennifer wants closure. Meanwhile, Paul rips up his identification and personal pictures and burns them. Meg returns, gives him the pills and alerts him about the memorial service they are planning for him. Paul insists he wants to go. Hal waits for Emily to tell him what she knows about Paul's death, but Henry appears from hiding and attempts to cover for her. Hal keeps pressing and Emily is about to tell all when Susan appears and mentions it was a suicide. Emily quickly switches her story and though Hal doesn't really believe her, he leaves. Later, Emily hears about the memorial service and though she refuses to go, Henry reminds her that as a bereaved widow, she must. Will finds Gwen cleaning a room at the hotel in her maid's uniform. They take advantage of the privacy and fool around before she makes him go. He bumps into Barbara who wants him to come to Paul's memorial service but he refuses. Gwen overhears and suggests maybe he should but Will is adamant that Gwen is his only family now. Luke is forced to admit to his father he got drunk last night and Holden is shocked. Luke lies that he was alone when he was drinking. Later, however, Kevin shows up with his father to apologize and the truth comes out. Holden tries to get Luke to open up about why this is happening but Luke won't. Holden is then forced to lay down the law: no drinking, no driving, no Kevin and Luke is distraught.
Nick threw an engagement party for Mike and Katie at Yo's. Margo and Hal were there, along with others of Oakdale's finest, and Mike decided to call Jack and invite him and Carly to come join them. Katie questioned the wisdom of that, given the job situation between Nick and Jack and Nick's constant flirtations with Carly, but Mike told her it was no big deal. When Jack and Carly arrived and saw Nick, Carly wanted to turn around and go home, but Jack said they should stay. Jack approached Hal and apologized for the things he'd said at the station about Hal still wanting Emily; Hal accepted the apology but then told Jack he was going to pair him up with Nick to finish working on the illegal gambling investigation. Jack told Carly the news, then went to get a couple of beers for them to drink. Nick approached Carly and asked her to dance, but Carly refused. Jack returned with the beers and began drinking fast and furiously. Margo offered a toast to the engaged couple; later, Nick jokingly toasted Paul Ryan, thanking him for being dead and thus making the investigation so easy to wrap up. Jack shouted that Nick was being a jerk by laughing at a dead man who had plenty of connections in Oakdale and who was a human being, no matter what he'd done. Nick and Jack got in each other's' faces, and Nick offered to "take it outside."
Casey found Maddie at Java and invited her to a "Star Wars" movie marathon. Maddie said she had other plans, but Casey didn't believe her and pressed her for details. Spotting a classmate nearby, Maddie pointed to him and said she had plans with him. Casey was entirely disbelieving, so Maddie got up and walked over to the boy, whose name was Nate, and asked if he knew who she was. He not only knew who she was but had been wanting to talk to her for a long time, so they sat down at a table together as a disbelieving Casey looked on. Nate told Maddie he enjoyed her sense of humor and her intelligence, and Maddie was flattered to find that he really was interested in her. Nate had to leave but told Maddie he'd be back later and asked her to watch his stuff for him; when he left, Casey told Maddie that Nate was all wrong for her because he was too brainy. Maddie asked why Casey cared, since she was like an "annoying little sister" to him, and Casey realized Maddie must have overheard him calling her that when he was talking to his mom. Casey told Maddie he'd just told his mom that and that he really cared about her a lot, as a friend.
At the cabin in the woods, Paul insisted to Meg that he was going to go to his own memorial service, telling her he had to go so he could find out whether his sister could ever forgive him for what he'd done. Meg told him he couldn't go, for obvious reasons, but said that she'd go instead and report back to him on what was said.
At the Lakeview, Will told Gwen he wasn't sure if he should go to Paul's memorial service or not, but then he remembered that Paul had forgiven him after he'd killed Rose, and he said maybe he should have forgiven Paul, too. Gwen told him he should go to the service, and he said he would if she went with him. When Emily arrived at the service, Barbara tried to kick her out, but Emily told her she'd been invited by the minister and she was staying. After more harassment from Barbara, Emily turned to leave, but Henry walked in and told her she had to stay for appearance's sake. Barbara stood and gave a eulogy for Paul, in which she blamed herself for not having been able to keep him safe from his father and for not being there when he needed her the most. Meg walked in, much to Dusty and Jennifer's surprise, and then Will and Gwen arrived. Just as Barbara said she had failed Paul, Paul arrived, listening from the vestibule. Jennifer then stood and spoke about Paul and how much he had hurt her, but in the end, saying that she forgave him and probably would eventually have forgiven him if he had lived. Meg spotted Paul at the back of the church looking in and got up and went to the vestibule to try to get him to leave. The minister then asked Emily if she wanted to speak, which made Barbara very upset, but Emily was unable to complete her remarks. She quickly left the church, but when she got to the front door, she overheard Paul's voice.
