Recap.

The Planet is in great shape with Lara serving as head chef and Marina still in charge while still happily involved with Francesca.  Francesca is away in Virginia working on a job while Marina is content to running The Planet and being there for her friends.

Bette and Tina suffer through major stress in their relationship.  From Bette dealing with the C.A.C. and the Provocations exhibit to Tina’s pregnancy ending in a miscarriage.  With the stress taking its toll and Bette starting to fall out of love, she falls for Candace, leading to an affair which Tina discovers.  Tina is now staying with Alice at Alice’s apartment.

For Shane, things became chaotic over the past year.  From dealing with Lacey to the stress of dealing with an old friend, Clive which would lead to meeting Harry which would then lead to meeting Cherie…which would lead to the affair with Cherie, who is married and with a daughter who also had a crush on Shane, all leading to a disastrous ending.  Shane’s hopes and dreams appear to have fallen flat for the moment, but she can still do hair.

Alice has been able to vanquish a recurring relationship with Gabby, only to wind up dating Lisa, the “Lesbian Identified Man.”  Even with that relationship going away, Alice took comfort in being supportive of her best friend, Dana, who after struggling to come out, finally does so.  Also there for Dana is Lara, Dana’s girlfriend.  At one point, Dana and Lara break up as Dana faces the pressure of being outed.  Once out, Dana still feels as if she has lost Lara forever until Marina intervenes.  The conversation between Marina and Lara leads to not only Lara coming back to Dana, but also Lara winding up working at The Planet after Francesca approves of her cooking abilities.
At the Dinah Shore Weekend, Alice is introduced to someone from Lara’s past.  Her name is Robin and it is revealed that she had a relationship with Claybourne at the same time Lara was also dating Claybourne, leading to a falling out between the two.  After somewhat patching things up, Lara continues to focus on keeping Dana happy while Alice finds herself interested in Robin.  The two are now dating.  Also at the Dinah Shore Weekend is introduced Dana’s eventual new agent, Tonya.