Tom asks Anna to the Ball. She meets him there and is wearing a very lovely ball gown. Esme convinces Perce to go to the Ball and he arrives in his old military uniform. He and Esme dance. Frank sings to Shirl. The Ball is a great success. Someone throws a brick through Ray's shop window and Max is cut by the broken glass. Ray doesn't want Max in their home so Bernice takes him in. Trish stops by and Max decides to go with her to church. Anna decides to throw Billy a party for his birthday. Shirl is going to Brisbane for a local government conference and Frank decides to do a big clean out while she's gone. She doesn't like that idea so she starts sorting through his old junk. He doesn't like that. They end up reminiscing over their accumulated "stuff". Shirl rereads her old India diary and wants to take Frank there. He agrees to talk about it when she gets back from Brisbane.

Max and Ray argue at the church and Max decides to go for a walk. He's too ill, though, and Bernice comes across him in a bad state. She takes him to the hospital where it is determined he's suffering from PCP (Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia). There isn't much they can do for him. Nev Brown comes into the shop to pay for the broken window. Ray thinks the brick was because of Max but learns from Nev that it was because Nev has lung cancer and his grandson blames the shop for selling him the cigarettes that contributed to the cancer. Anna's goodies for the party don't turn out very well. Hugo shows up dressed as a clown and he and Darcy wind up having to supervise the whole thing when Anna is called out to an emergency. It is a rousing success, in spite of one of the partygoers, Jenny Smith, having an allergic reaction to the preservatives and dyes in the candy.

Shirley leaves for Brisbane. Max asks Trish to bring him his sponge bag, which contains enough drugs to allow him to kill himself. She tells Ray about it and he rushes to the hospital to stop him. Max couldn't bring himself to do it, though. Ray has a change of heart and, even though he still doesn't approve of the lifestyle, wants to bring Max home to stay with him and Trish. Storms are lashing the east coast and a commuter flight from Burrigan to Brisbane has trouble and tries to divert. Air traffic control loses contact with it. Everyone converges on Frank's house to await word on whether it was Shirl's plane. Tom finally arrives with the bad news. Shirl is dead.