While Laura suffers the fallout of a cancelled wedding, 'The Oyster' - publishing anti-nuclear material - is seized. Max and Phrani conjure a plan to keep the newspaper in print but Morton Tregonning prepares to open the nuclear waste dump regardless...just as soon as the tunnel is completed. After protesting at the tunnel site, Miranda and Craig are arrested for trespassing.

When Laura learns all police and legal authority in town are Morton's Port Deakin stooges - including her new co-worker, Port Deakin magistrate, Tucker - she is angered. Feeling utterly powerless, Laura quits her position as magistrate, deciding to defend Miranda and Craig herself. Tucker's bias and corrupted self ensure the case will be impossible to win until Max discovers an anomaly which saves the day...but not the fate of the town. As the ends of the tunnel come close to connecting, the locals pray for a miracle...which comes in the form of a natural disaster courtesy of an enexpected source...Meredith.

Frustrated by the local's apparant apathy, Meredith is struck down by a stroke. Pearl Bay is devastated. All hope seems lost when her life support is turned off, triggering the earth at the tunnel site to shift. The project is defunct and the town is saved. However, Meredith remains in a coma. Showing remarkable strength in the face of tragedy, Heather insists Bob rerun for mayor using Meredith's campaign and Karen go ahead with her wedding.

Without Meredith around, Karen's 'surf wedding' seems more ominous than ever. However, Angus and the town have other ideas and throw Karen her ultimate white wedding fantasy. As we head out of the series Meredith decides not to leave Pearl Bay to battle on alone while Laura and Max are left doing what they do best: arguing...over the name of their unborn child