Dallas

Sue Ellen is despondent and the family worries if she has any interest in taking care of her child. Cliff Barnes claims to be the father of John Ross and J.R. seeks the services of lawyer Alan Beam.

The Ewing family races to find out who has kidnapped John Ross. Bobby suspects Cliff is guilty of the deed and J.R. attempts to pay the ransom for the child.

Cliff Barnes flys his father, Digger, to Dallas to show him how he's getting even with the Ewings but Digger's sudden medical problem places a cloud over Cliff, Pam, and even Sue Ellen's new baby. A doctor's examination discloses that Digger has a genetic disorder that has not only been passed to his children but also to their offspring which could prove fatal to John Ewing III if Cliff is actu...

Lucy's mother tries to re-establish some understanding with her daughter while Pamela, already depressed with the reality of the Barnes' family genetic disorder, suddenly has to cope with the news that she is pregnant. Valene employs Bobby to urge Lucy to meet with her as Pamela tries to decide whether to tell her husband the news, as well as her horrible secret, or decide on the fate of her un...

Kristin easily convinces J.R. to give her a summer job in his office as she openly vies for his attention and Bobby learns about Pam's pregnancy before she can make a decision about getting an abortion. As Bobby delights in the news that he's going to become a father, J.R. has his hands full as he tries to consummate the biggest oil deal of his life as well as begin his own kind of relationship...

On a hunting trip in Louisiana, Jock finds himself the target of revenge from a man he doesn't even remember and at home Ellie is afraid that she might be facing surgery. Jock and J.R. are wounded by a sniper's bullets while hunting and with their vehicle sabotaged, Bobby and Ray have to walk to town for help. Thinking he might not recover, Jock reveals a secret to J.R. that he has been hiding ...

Bobby finds himself getting attached to Luke Middens, the young son of one of the hired hands, which only makes Pam's efforts to tell Bobby the truth about their unborn child even more difficult. Eventually she is forced to confess. Meanwhile, J.R. becomes suspicious of Sue Ellen's frequent trips to town and, when she refuses to acknowledge her activities, he hires a private detective to follow...

At the annual Ewing sponsored rodeo, Sue Ellen finds herself drawn to Dusty Farlow, a cowboy participant, and Digger Barnes holds good on his threat to see "his" grandson while J.R. and Kristin have a little game plan all their own. J.R. feels threatened by Sue Ellen's sudden enthusiasm for life once more as she openly displays interest for Dusty, while Lucy in turn forces Ray to deal with a pa...

Ellie is afraid to tell Jock about the lump in her breast after he reveals he was married before and left his first wife when she became mentally ill, so Ellie is afraid Jock will leave her also if the lump requires a mastectomy. J.R. works and schemes with Alan Beam to deal with Cliff.

Ellie does require a mastectomy and Lucy reacts by avoiding her grandmother as she fears getting cancer herself. Sue Ellen seeks solace by getting involved with Dusty Farlow and Jock realizes how much he loves his wife. J.R. gets support for his plan to deal with Cliff from Jock.

Lucy decides that Alan Beam is the man for her after she witnesses him standing up to J.R. without knowing it was a fight staged by the two of them to further convince Cliff Barnes of Beam's loyalty. Lucy makes an obvious play for Alan, who sees her as his ticket to riches, while Pam accuses Bobby of trying to ruin her brother and accidentally learns from Cliff about J.R.'s secret Asian oil deal.

J.R. is caught from all sides when a typhoon delays the oil drilling in Asia as his bank loan becomes due, then Bobby discovers that J.R. has mortgaged Southfork ranch and he is forced to tell Jock and Ellie that they may lose everything. J.R. believes that once Cliff Barnes resigns his post as head of the Office of Land Management, the banks will extend their loan deadline, but again, he's mis...

Sue Ellen's avoidance of her own baby becomes a source of conflict between her and J.R., and between Bobby and Pam, who have begun to think of the child as her own. Meanwhile, seeing the pain Miss Ellie is going through as workmen prepare to pump oil out of Southfork, Jock decides to sell the Asian oil leases even though it means losing millions, and J.R. tries to stop him if at all possible.

Ellie's sadness on the occasion of the birthday of Gary, her missing son, quickly changes to jubilation when she learns he and Valene are both back in Dallas and plan to be re-married. Ellie plans to keep the news of the wedding a secret from J.R., who's on a business trip with Kristin, but Sue Ellen delights in giving him the news as well as telling Rudy Millington, Kristin's boyfriend, where ...

J.R. decides that bringing Bobby back into Ewing Oil is the best way to keep Jock out of the office and J.R. also aims to get Pam a promotion to keep Bobby's mind off anything but his troubled marriage. Pam is using her work to hide from her own unhappiness while Ray seems to have found happiness at least when Donna Culver reenters his life.

Alan Beam's "romance" with Lucy is discovered by Kristin who believes once J.R. knows about it he will quickly get rid of the ambitious young lawyer but J.R. fools everyone by encouraging Alan to follow through with his plan to marry Lucy. Lucy puts off deciding about Alan's proposal until J.R. orders her not to see him again then she makes a startling announcement.

After Cliff Barnes announces he is quitting the race for Congress, Digger returns to the bottle and drunkenly tells a reporter that Cliff is really the father of Sue Ellen's baby. Jock Ewing insists the family sue Cliff, who countersues for custody of his son forcing Sue Ellen, J.R., and Cliff to take blood tests to prove once and for all who is the baby's real father.

Sue Ellen actively sees Dusty, Pam leaves town and an angry husband who runs into Jenna, an old girl friend, while Ray ponders if he and Donna have anything in common besides their love. J.R. finds himself angry and jealous of Sue Ellen's unexplained nights out as Kristin tries to take advantage of the situation and permanently enters J.R.'s life.

Sue Ellen is being pressured by Dusty to leave J.R., Pam and Bobby's marriage continues to strain towards the breaking point and Donna makes a last attempt to get Ray to change his mind about marriage. Sue Ellen makes her decision and asks J.R. for a divorce but his reaction is not at all what she expects. Meanwhile, Pam is surprised when Jenna makes a surprise visit and declares her intentions...

J.R. pushes Alan Beam to pressure Lucy into setting a wedding date so they'll move to Chicago but Jock messes up J.R.'s plans by securing for Alan a law partnership in Dallas. Kristin tries to help J.R. by telling Lucy about Alan's girlfriend but the plan backfires and Lucy announces a date for the wedding.

Sue Ellen takes great pains to appear the perfect wife and mother in preparation for her divorce action but when J.R. realizes what she is planning, he decides to take a strong counterattack. J.R. is furious when he learns Sue Ellen has a private detective following him on his nocturnal visits and decides the best way to keep her from leaving him with their son is to prove that Sue Ellen is dri...

As a new assistant district attorney, Cliff Barnes jumps at the chance to work on the investigation of the body found at Southfork, obviously murdered many years ago, while Sue Ellen fights to convince the family that she is not drinking again. Cliff's investigation unearths some new clues which tie the murder closer and closer to Jock, while Sue Ellen prepares herself to leave J.R. and her baby.

While Jock faces his murder trial, other family members are distracted with their own problems, as Sue Ellen drinks to forget Dusty's death, Pam watches Digger slowly deteriorate in a hospital, and J.R. fears his testimony will incriminate his father. The family hires famed criminal attorney Scotty Demerest only to be told that Cliff Barnes' case against Jock is dangerously incriminating and th...

With most of the family visiting Jock's first wife in a Colorado sanitarium, J.R. uses the time to try to set up an even bigger oil deal with the now profitable Asian wells, while Sue Ellen and Pam deal with their separate grieves in very different ways. Pam becomes determined to learn about her mother, long-believed dead, and Sue Ellen again seeks liquor for her solace, which pleases J.R. in h...