Esme is in the Club selling raffle tickets as Bert finishes up his lunch (leaving the broccoli, of course). Bert and Esme don't get along and Bert insults her by calling her a pest and a bat. Cookie offers Esme a port and lemonade on the house to make up for the comments. Esme lights into him, saying she comes from an aristocratic family, and Bert takes her down a peg or two. She rushes out of the Club. Brendan has to leave for the hospital. Molly is deep into the old newspapers that were under the old lino -- Brendan picks up one from November 1931 and Molly says they go even further back. Terence starts eating his lunch in the flat only to be interrupted by Esme Watson (preceded only slightly by Shirley who was coming to announce her). Esme has sent away for her birth certificate and has been told that there is no record of her being born. She wonders if there are any medical records that might shed light on the matter. Terence tells her that medical records are only kept for 20 years. He says he doesn't know the history of the Valley but that she was probably born before there was a hospital here and was born at home. He recommends she look through family records, which Esme recalls are kept in her father's old sea chest. The clinic gets a long distance call from Sydney -- it's Simon's father calling with bad news. Simon's mother is in ICU after a car crash. Terence and Shirley arrange to get him to Sydney right away to be with his parents.

Terence drives Simon to the air strip. Shirley and Frank are looking after Fatso for him, much to Frank's consternation. Vicky calls and Shirley is so excited to hear how much fun she's having that she forgets to tell Vicky about Simon's mother. Shirley worries about Simon...Simon and his father don't get along so well. At the Sydney hospital, Simon stops in to see his mother. She's unconscious and hooked up to all kinds of tubes.. They're waiting to hear from the neurologist about the scan and the skull xray soon. At the Club, Cookie and Bob try to find a place to hold the gambling night and are interrupted by a rather drunk Bert Griffiths looking for a refill (and the change from his pension cheque). Bert intimates that Cookie and Bob have a "special" relationship (after all, they live together) and Cookie lunges at him. Bert hits Bob in the nose while Bob is trying to separate them and Bob has to be taken to the hospital. Simon's father enters the hospital room and discusses his wife's symptoms and prognosis with a very pessimistic outlook. Simonon the other hand is cautiously optimistic. Mr. Bowen says he's glad none of the boys were there (forgetting, obviously, that Simon is one of those boys)...Simon was the only one he could reach. Simon has to call his older brothers, John at St. Guy's and Nicholas at Harvard, and try to cancel the anniversary plans. Mr. Bowen gives Simon the keys to the family home, to let himself in. Frank brings Mrs. Coote in to the hospital with a scraped leg and twisted ankle. Frank says she tripped over a dog and she says that wasn't what she did. Brendan takes care of her. Bert brings Bob in to the hospital and Matron Sloan looks at Bob's nose. She calls them both hoolligans and Bert is chuffed. Simon tries to reach John and has to insist on interrupting whatever his brother is doing. John's first question is apparently "Was it her fault?", followed by "Was Dad with her when it happened?". John doesn't want to come to Sydney to see his mother but Simon puts his foot down.

Molly is totally engrossed in the old newspapers and barely responds to Brendan when he arrives home. She reads him an article from one of the local papers (before the Burrigan Examiner) about a 20-year-old woman named Cissie Holt who disappeared. Molly has been trying to find out what happened to her and has been poring through the old papers ever since she found that first article. Simon's father is not hopeful about his wife's state but Simon tries to get him to be more positive. He insists his father go home to freshen up while Simon stays with Aileen. Terence brings Shirley up-to-date about Simon's mother. Shirley tells Terence that Bev told her she'd had a call from the young girl at the Xavier Refuge (Gabe). Bert comes in, compliments Shirley on her legs ("You've still got the best pair of pins in the Valley."), and asks Terence to take a look at his dog's ear. He wants Terence to put the treatment down as if he were treating Bert so that Bert can put it on his pension and leaves before Terence can say no. Shirley is highly amused. Andy, one of Vicky's old friends (and driving a posh convertible), picks her up at her hotel the next night. She's had a great time so far and they are going out on Larry's cruiser that day. She decides to drop the presents for Mrs. Bowen on the way. Brendan and Maggie look after Mrs. Coote. Mrs. Coote worries about her dog, Goldie (Frank's looking after her). He recounts the story of Cissie Holt to the two women and wonders how they'll find out about the mystery woman (there are no Holts listed in the phone book). Mrs. Coote pipes up that she remembers her and shares the information that Cissie was Esme Watson's auntie.

When they try to get more information out of Mrs. Coote about her, she becomes forgetful. She finally confirms that Cissie was Esme's mother Mona's sister, that she went around with a rough crowd, that she went away (who knows where, who knows when) and returned 6 months later. Then Mrs. Coote's sleeping medication kicks in and they'll get nothing out of her for at least four hours. Vicky arrives at the palacious Bowen estate and rings the doorbell. Dr. Bowen opens the door and says he's not receiving visitors and sends her away without hardly a word. He then opens the door and mentions that there's been an accident and that Simon's at St. Vincent's hospital. Vicky and Andy rush away. Brendan calls Molly to tell her what little they've learned about Cissie Holt and she's even more determined to learn more. Bob starts to bundle up the old newspapers to throw out and Molly panics. She tells him he can throw away the old lino but not to touch her newspapers. He thinks it's normal pregnancy madness. Simon talks to his mother and strokes her hair. He tells her not to let go, that she's all he has, just as Vicky walks into the room and says "Not true, Simon." Vicky sits down by the bed and takes his hand.

Vicky calls home and tells Shirley that she's seen Simon. There's been no change in Simon's mother's condition. Vicky has changed her plans so that she can stay with Simon for awhile while he waits. Matron Sloan brings Mrs. Coote a cup of tea but she's still out like a light. For a moment Matron panics a little that maybe Mrs. Coote has died but no, it's still just the sedative affecting her. Brendan and Molly pore over more of the old newspapers. Molly comes across a paper with information about Cissie's death by suicide. It makes Molly more eager to find out more. Simon and Vicky return to the Bowen family residence. Simon's father is talking to John on the phone, insisting that whatever he's doing is more important than coming home ("Simon's here. It doesn't matter how long he's away."). When he gets off the phone he reprimands Simon for having told his brothers to come home. Frank complains to Cookie about he and Shirley taking care of 3 dogs and a wombat -- Shirley fed them prime rump steak much to Frank's anguish. Frank is looking for Bert (so Bert can come retrieve his dog from the Gilroy house). Esme stops in at the Club, too, and talks to Cookie about not being able to find a record of her birth. She found her brother's, her sister's, her parents. Cookie jokes about it but Esme is very upset. She's needs her birth records to begin to try to prove her lineage from great Irish kings.

Simon offers to drive Vicky back to her hotel. He borrows his dad's car, which is high tech, and Simon has trouble finding the switch to turn on the head lights. When he tells her how fast the car can go (240 kph), she says she can take a cab. Molly is sure that nothing but a man could cause a woman to commit suicide. Brendan is reading a 1928 paper. Molly weaves a fantastic story about the man who took advantage of Cissie and dumped her, leaving Cissie heartbroken. Brendan decides its time for bed but Molly hears a funny sneezing noise coming from the chimney and has to investigate. Brendan teases her that's it's the sneezing ghost of Cissie Holt. The sound is coming from Jewels and Molly finds something protuding inside the chimney that she worries is causing a draft that will make Jewels sick. Brendan leaves her to it. Simon's mother wakes up, to Simon's relief.

Terence and Maggie play cards and chat about doctors they've known. Terence keeps throwing out the wrong cards but Maggie won't let him pick them back up. Shirley calls Joan at the Refuge to ask about Gabe and the funny calls Shirley's been getting. Gabe's run away from the refuge. Terence looks terrible when he comes in to the clinic -- he was up until 3am playing cards with Maggie. Carpenter, Bert's dog, is lying in front of Shirley's desk waiting for his master to pick him up. Esme stops by with old photographs of her parents, her sister Inez, her aunt Cissie with a good looking strange man, and more. Brendan and Maggie try to get more information about Cissie Holt from a rambling Mrs. Coote. She doesn't know why Cissie killed herself (families hushed those kinds of things up in those days). Simon stops by to tell Vicky the good news about his mother (and because he just wanted to see her). He wants to spend the day with her (she's playing hooky from the conference) but she has already made plans with Andy. When Andy arrives, she sends him away and tells Simon she's all his....for the day only. Esme stops by the Club while Bert Griffiths is there. Bert chimes in with various insults while Esme talks to Cookie about her distressing lack of a birth record. Cookie makes her feel better by reminding her that she can prove the irish royal lineage by using her parents' birth certificates. Bob is at the Jones farm when Molly manages to remove the loose brick she found inside the chimney (she had to stand up inside the fireplace in order to get at it). Inside the little nook behind the loose brick she finds a small box that Bob helps her pry open. Simon and Vicky enjoy a cuppa and a chat at a waterfront cafe. Brendan arrives home to find Molly crying and depressed about Cissie Holt. The box contained letters to Maisie Reed, a daughter of a former owner of the Jones farm, from Cissie Holt about how Cissie became pregnant to a young man called Ginge and was sent to a Sydney hostel by her parents, to have her baby in secrecy. Molly hasn't read all of the letters so she decides not to say anything to Esme until she does. Simon and Vicky enjoy their day together, wandering around the beach and chatting, holding hands at times.

Simon and Vicky stop by to visit his mother. Aileen tells Simon she knew he was there talking to her and that, even though his father would never say so, Robert was glad Simon was there. Simon introduces Vicky to her. Esme stops by the hospital to visit Mrs. Coote and Brendan lets slip about not knowing that Esme had a cousin. Esme is indignant -- her unmarried aunt most certainly did not have a baby. Later on that night, Molly reads a letter to Brendan about how Cissie's sister Mona Watson took the baby away to raise herself. Cissie had named the little girl Harriet but they decided to christen her Esme instead. Cissie was depressed over her whole situation and swore Maisie to secrecy, never to tell anyone, especially Ginge (she wasn't sure of his feelings or intentions and didn't want to cause trouble by telling him). The saddest part is that Molly also found a letter from Ginge, who had gone north looking for work and now was in a position to declare his love for Cissie. He wanted to marry her but the letter arrived after she had killed herself. Molly and Brendan debate whether or not to tell Esme and decide to pretend that the letters don't exist. They still wonder who Ginge is/was, though. Simon and Vicky look at Bowen family photos. Simon can see that Vicky doesn't really feel comfortable in the Bowen family house so they go into the gardens. They discuss garden gnomes and ponds. Vicky is shivering and Simon asks if she's cold. When she says she's not, he asks if she's scared. She says no to that as well. He says there must be a reason why she's shivering. They finally kiss. Simon arrives back at the clinic a little early and Shirley welcomes him home. He says Vicky will be back tomorrow. Shirley wonders at his demeanor. Molly and Brendan are at the Club. Esme walks in and Bert immediately starts picking on her. Esme finally found her certificate of baptism (presbyterian). Bert laughs at her and continues to insult her. Molly and Brendan enjoy their ringside seats to the bickering.

Mrs. Coote is sent home and Goldie goes with her. Bert is shocked to find that Frank has given Carpenter a bath. When Frank remarks that Carpenter left a lot of hair behind, Bert tells them that he had a thick head of flaming red hair when he was younger and that everyone used to call him "Ginge" because of it. He leaves with Carpenter. While cooking dinner, Shirley talks to Frank about Simon and Vicky and how she'd had such hopes for the two of them getting together. Vicky arrives back at the flat the next day and conversation is a little stilted between her and Simon. Both of them have been invited to have dinner with Shirley and Frank.