Mike and Vienna are stuck in Mike's cabin with the door jammed as the boat rocks and rolls. One big lurch sends them both onto the bed where Vienna makes a play for Mike. Mike gives the door one more try to gets it open, and the two of them make their escape.
Katie is in the water clinging to a life preserver when Simon grabs her. He suggests they swim to an island he is sure is nearby, so they begin kicking with the life preserver.
Jack has walked in on Carly as she is trying to repair her shirt after the food fight. He gets her bag from the car, and Carly puts on another shirt but her necklace gets caught requiring close up work by Jack. Jessica walks in as Jack and Carly are very close and gets the idea that reconciliation is in the works. Do they want her to stop the divorce, Jess asks? Carly says no.
Dallas Griffin finds Maddie and she accuses him of stalking her. He reminds her that she was sexually assaulted in Chicago and that she needs to come to grips with that. Maddie warns Dallas not to say anything to Margo about what happened in Chicago.
In Jennifer's suite in the Lakeview, Gwen coaches Casey on feeding baby Johnny. Will comes in and asks to speak to his wife alone. He tells Gwen that Jennifer is dying and then breaks down.
At the hospital, Hal and Barbara ask Dr. Bob how someone as young and healthy as Jen can possibly be dying. Hal asks how long Jen has left and Bob tells him not long.
Jen asks Dusty to marry her immediately. She wants a small ceremony with only family and a few friends right there in the hospital. Dusty agrees, but keeps telling Jen she will recover. She wants the marriage before it is too late, so Dusty leaves to make the arrangements. Jen tells Hal about the impending marriage.
Dallas reveals that he is the cop who found Maddie after her assault and urges her to own up to what happened and stand up against whoever hurt her. Maddie yells at Dallas to leave her alone, and Casey overhears. He wants to know what is going on, but Maddie reminds him that they have broken up and she is no longer any concern of his.
Dusty informs the family in the waiting room about the wedding arrangements and Lucy walks in. Kim tries to comfort Dusty, but she is too sad. Jennifer tells Hal that he has been a wonderful father to her, even though he is not her birth father. Then Jen has some close moments with Gwen and Johnny, and Jen asks Gwen to be her matron of honor and to promise that she will always look after and be in little Johnny's life.
On board the cruise ship, the captain tells Mike that neither Katie nor Simon is on board. In the water, Simon promises Katie he will get her to safety.
Maddie finally tells Casey that she is not who he thinks she is; she is not perfect. Casey tells her he loves her and that he thinks she loves him too.
Kim tries to get through to Dusty that Jennifer is dying, but Dusty is in strong denial.
Katie and Simon wash up on the shore of a deserted island. Blaming Simon, Katie tells him to stay away from her, declaring that she can take care of herself. But her efforts to do that are thwarted when the tide comes in and extinguishes her fire. Meanwhile, Simon is doing fine, having built a fire and made a "help" sign from sticks. Later, Simon is clonked on the head with a golf ball and looks up to see a golfer waving at him. Meanwhile, on the ship the Captain tells Mike and Vienna that several other passengers saw Simon and Katie go overboard. The good news is that one life preserver is unaccounted for. Mike vows to Vienna that if Simon has hurt Katie, he'll have to answer to him. Later, the captain and Vienna come to Mike's cabin with the life-preserver – with a shark bite in it. Luke and Damian celebrate July 4th at the Country Club. Damian gives Luke a new car, but Luke remains depressed about not being with his family. Damian invites Lucy to join them, seeing it as an opportunity to cheer his son up. While planning his wedding to Jennifer, Dusty tries to get her admitted to a special program at another clinic. When Paul and Meg arrive at the hospital, he blasts them and asks Will to be his best man, telling Will that he's a new "brother" to him. Paul and Meg leave. Later, Lucy and Bob inform Dusty that the clinic has rejected Jennifer, while Jennifer makes a tape for Johnny to guide him through the major milestones of life. Later, with her family and Emily (at Jennifer's request) by her side, Jennifer prepares to marry Dusty when she realizes someone is missing – Paul, who has returned to the farm with Meg, upset at not being with Jen when she's so sick.
While Dusty goes to get Paul and Meg to bring to his and Jennifer's wedding, Jennifer starts to falter. Kim brings in the baby, Jennifer rallies and she and Dusty exchange vows. Meg, Paul and Emily put aside their enmity for Jennifer's sake. Gwen and Will, as members of the wedding, try to make the occasion festive. Hal sees that Emily still has feelings for Paul. Barbara, in spite of the circumstances, is moved to see her family finally coming together. Damian lifts Lucy's spirits, but she is still concerned about Jennifer and Dusty. She returns to the hospital in time to see them exchange vows. Meanwhile, Damian sees a kid teasing Luke and Kevin about being "lovebirds." When Luke laughs along with Kevin, Damian questions Luke about his reaction and Luke reveals that he's not ready to come out to his friends. Damian is secretly pleased. Meanwhile, Holden tells Jack to back off Ross and the investigation. Struggling to take care of herself, a defeated Katie returns to Simon who sees an opportunity in her vulnerability. He hides the golf ball and chooses not to tell her that civilization is just around the corner. Meanwhile, Vienna, in her grief, throws herself at Mike. When he calls her on it, she reveals that she thinks Simon is still in love with Katie – and that they disappeared together on purpose.
Jennifer gets Dusty to finally see the reality of her impending death, and he calls her family back in to say goodbye. Emily tells Meg she hopes Paul and she will remember what Jen wants for Emily and her child. Gwen comforts Will. Paul knows he is forgiven and seems to take his sister's words to heart. Later, Jen asks Dusty to get rid of the monitoring equipment and hold her. Maddie's efforts to leave town become more desperate as Casey confronts Dallas and Margo learns about his connection to her son's girlfriend. Henry fails to help Maddie and when she sees something in the paper, she leaves. Later, Maddie shows up at the police station looking for Dallas and is uncomfortable when she runs into Margo.
Margo sees Maddie in the interrogation room talking to Dallas, but just as Maddie is about to open up to Dallas, she spies Margo and angrily accuses Dallas of having told Margo about what happened to her (a sexual assault in Chicago). Dallas tries to tell her he didn't say anything to Margo, but Maddie storms out. Margo asks Dallas if Maddie was assaulted, and Dallas won't confirm it, which makes Margo certain it's true. Margo follows Maddie to Java and tells her she once had a secret, too, and that keeping it to herself didn't help. Although she doesn't specifically tell Maddie what happened to her (that she was raped), she invites Maddie to open up to her, but Maddie refuses. Margo tells Maddie she doesn't have to go through this alone, that she has people in Oakdale who love her and will help her. She tells Maddie that any time she feels like she's drowning in her secret, she can pick up the phone and call. Maddie leaves.
Paul and Meg are at the hospital when Paul is handed a note saying Emily would like to see him. Emily tells Paul she wants to be a part of her child's life and that Jennifer, of all people, at this time in her life, understands what is really important. Paul tells Emily that even though he knows how wrong what he did to Jennifer was, deep down, he can't regret it, because he still thinks that his motivation was good --- to keep the baby from Craig, who was a dangerous man. Paul tells Emily he considers her dangerous as well, and that's why he's not going to let her raise his baby. Emily asks, "How cruel can you get? Comparing me to Craig?" Paul tells her he doesn't feel sorry for her at all; he'll make sure the baby knows who she is and how the baby and Emily helped save Johnny's life, but that's it.
Jennifer tells Dusty and Bob that she wants all the monitors and the I.V. unhooked; Bob honors her request by disconnecting everything, then he leaves. Jennifer tells Dusty she feels peaceful, and she asks him to lie down next to her and to call to have Johnny brought to see her one last time. Dusty calls Gwen and Will and asks them to bring Johnny back to the hospital. Kim tells Barbara and Hal about Jennifer asking to be taken off of everything; Barbara breaks down. Kim leaves, and Hal comforts Barbara, asking her if she remembers Jennifer's princess phase, when she'd go to bed every night wearing a tiara. Barbara does, and she asks Hal if she (Barbara) was worth all the trouble. Hal tells her he'd do it all again for 5 times the trouble and just 5 more minutes with his princess.
Dusty tells Jennifer, "You were made to be a part of me ... you saved me." Gwen and Will bring Johnny in and say they'll wait outside; Jennifer tells Will, "It's okay; be happy." Will tells his parents that he's not okay with all of this, that it's wrong for this to be happening to Jennifer; Hal asks him to go for a walk with him. Will says he doesn't need to go for a walk, but Hal says he does and asks if Will would join him. They leave, and Gwen offers to wait downstairs, but Barbara tells her that she needs company, too. They sit and talk, and Barbara tells Gwen some people would say she deserves this for trying to control her children; Gwen disagrees, saying, "You don't always give people what they need, but that doesn't mean that you don't love them." Barbara tells Gwen about the accident she had after she left Hal, which left her physically and emotionally scarred, and how she pulled away from her children then. She apologizes to Gwen for how she's treated her in the past, and she tells Gwen that if she and Will ever adopt a child, they should remember to take every picture they can and save every lock of hair and scrap of memory, because it might end up being all they have left of their precious child. Gwen takes Barbara's hand in sympathy.
Jennifer tells Dusty that she wants Johnny to be like him, but Dusty tells her that Johnny is like her: sweet, kind, brave, and strong. Dusty promises that Johnny will be "more than okay" and says he'll eventually get a house with a yard and teach him to ride a bike, etc. Jenn says, "No motorcycles!" Dusty says, "He won't like that, but okay --- no motorcycles!" Dusty promises, "Johnny will know you so well, Jenn, because you're going to be with us all the time." Jennifer wants to sing one last lullaby to Johnny, and she quietly sings a song about wishing on a star. Bob asks Gwen and Will to bring the baby back out, saying it's time for Meg to go find Paul and bring him back. Barbara says Johnny needs to get home for bed, and Gwen says she and Will can take him home, or Will can stay, if they'll trust her with the baby; Will says if Gwen and Johnny leave, they'll all leave together. Barbara hands Johnny to Gwen and asks her to please be sure to kiss him tonight for his mom and to tell him how much his mommy loves him. Will hugs Barbara and Hal, and they leave.
Jennifer tells Dusty she's scared, and he tells her not to be, because he's there with her. She asks if there's a heaven, and he says, "Of course there's a heaven --- that's where we're gonna meet each other again... Heaven's real --- it's where you'll be, and you'll be watching over Johnny and me." She asks him what the night is like, and he describes it, saying it's the kind of night when they'd go for a walk and enjoy the breeze, and that from now on, when he and Johnny walk and feel the breeze, they'll know it's Jennifer, putting her arms around them. Then Dusty asks if Jennifer will dance with him on their wedding night, and she says, "I'm sorry." He says, "Don't be sorry, don't be sorry --- we'll have our dance, you'll see... We're already on the dance floor ... Can you see us? Can you hear the music?" He describes dipping her and says his favorite part is when she comes back up, and she looks straight into his eyes, and then she rests her head on his shoulder like that's where it always belongs. Dusty turns to look at Jennifer and realizes that she has died in his arms.
Dusty goes out to tell the family that Jennifer is gone. Tom, Margo, and Casey come rushing up and see the sorrow on everyone's faces. Margo hugs Hal as Dusty and Barbara hug each other. Tom nods to Casey that he should leave. Meg goes to get Paul, and when he walks out of Emily's room and she tells him that Jennifer is gone, he breaks down in her arms; Emily sees this and begins sobbing. Someone calls Will and tells him about Jennifer; he and Gwen embrace, with Will holding Johnny, and then the doorbell rings, and it's Casey. He comes in and hugs them all, as Maddie arrives in the hallway and sees them. Maddie quietly leaves. Dusty returns to Jennifer's bedside, picks up her hand and kisses it, then begins crying.
