Ken is annoyed at Cuckoo being naked in the house, so he tells Cuckoo to wear clothes, with the exception of when he is in the bathroom or in his and Rachel's bedroom.

Ken is preparing for an interview with Nina to become a Liberal Democrat councillor. His chances are jeopardised by Dylan and Nina's 16-year-old son Neil fighting at school and Ken vomiting over her.

Lorna's best friend Connie - who is married to Steve - and her son Zeb want Rachel to be with him, despite Rachel being married and not attracted to him.

Cuckoo encourages Connie to pursue her previously abandoned dream of becoming a professional singer. Her attempts to sing in the Thompson house are dreadful, greatly annoying Ken. Steve is annoyed that Connie is devoting a lot of her time to singing, as he was pleased when she stopped singing in their house years ago.

Cuckoo is killed falling whilst 'rescuing' mountain goats in the Lower Himalayan Range in Nepal, oblivious to the fact that they were not in any difficulty.

Dylan is at sixth form college and is delighted to be accepted to take media studies at the University of Roehampton.

Lorna and Rachel witness a car hitting a 21-year-old man, Dale, who has an American accent, is naive and has no road sense. Rachel is attracted to him and he tells the women that he is from Uttarakhand, India. Arriving home, Lorna and Rachel's car hits the same man. They bring him into the house and Lorna invites him to stay, which Ken is displeased by. Dale says that he is looking for his father, Cuckoo; they tell Dale what happened to Cuckoo. Dale calls Rachel mom, which she dislikes as she is only a year older than him. He tells them that he is from an ashram and that his mother is serving a life sentence for drug smuggling. Ken and Lorna realise that the ashram is a cult. Dale believes that aliens will collect him and other members of the ashram, and that everyone else will be killed. He finds out the next day that the leader, Vashradi, was arrested and the group disbanded. Dale accepts that it was a cult who lied to him and he agrees to live with the Thompsons.

Ken's colleague Ben has been Rachel's boyfriend for almost a year; Ben wants to buy a house with Rachel.

Dale does not know what to do with his new life in Lichfield. Ken is trying to prevent him from joining another cult, concerned at him finding Hare Krishnas and Jehovah's Witnesses appealing.

Ben wants Rachel and himself to get a 25-year mortgage. She is unsure and finds him boring, especially in comparison to Cuckoo.

Ben tells Rachel that Dale is attracted to her and that she should set Dale up with her attractive friend Natalie. They are quickly attracted to each other and kiss. Dale later tells Rachel that Natalie offered him sex and that he declined due to his belief that Natalie is not 'the One'.

Ken and his colleague Jane are competing for the position of senior partner, which is being vacated by Charles due to his retirement. In response to Rachel saying that Ben is dull, the couple have sex in the stationery cupboard - unaware that there are CCTV cameras in the room. They narrowly avoid being seen by Jane when she steals a large quantity of supplies from the room. Ken is unaware of Rachel and Ben having had sex in the room and sends the CCTV footage in an email to Charles in order to prove that Jane stole and therefore to make Charles choose Ken as his successor. Ken finds out about the sex session, so he goes to the office with Ben and Dale to take Charles' laptop to prevent him from seeing the footage. Ken walks in on Charles in his office and assumes him to be masturbating to the footage. Ken asks him to delete the email, which he does. When Ken makes a speech after Charles announces him as his successor, the staff laugh. Ken thinks that Charles showed them the footage. Jane tells them that they do not know about CCTV footage, and that they are laughing about the sexual tweets he and Lorna sent each other, wrongly believing them to be privately sent. Charles informs everyone that he was not masturbating. He was mopping up his urine with toilet roll as he has Parkinson's disease, which causes him incontinence, and is one of the reasons for his retirement.

Rachel introduces Dale to the Internet and they enjoy sending each other instant messages via computer.

Dale returns from Shanghai, where he has spent the seven months since he left at Christmas. Ben is horrified at Dale's return. Rachel assumes that he has returned for her, but he tells her that he is in love with Ling. She is the daughter of Mr Xi, his boss in Shanghai; he forced Dale to leave Shanghai because of his disapproval of his and Ling's relationship. Ken and Lorna are pleased to have Dale back; Lorna invites him to stay as long as he wants to and says he can move into Dylan's room, which he does.

Jess invites Ken and Dale to join a Mums' Group. Ken and Dale join and enjoy it. Lorna sees Jess there and becomes more convinced that Jess she is attracted to Ken. He does not think so, and Jess tells him that she is happily married. Ken tells Lorna that due to a mix up he was with Jess at the hospital when Sid was born, which Lorna is angry with Ken about. Jess invites Ken and Dale to her house. When they arrive, Ken finds out that none of the rest of the group are there and is horrified when Jess gets him alone, tells him that her partner Marc does not exist, takes her clothes off and tries to seduce him. He rejects Jess and goes home, where he realises that he has brought back Jess' baby, Eliza, instead of Sid. Ken and Dale attempt to swap back babies with Jess without Lorna finding out. A mistake in doing so means that although the babies are swapped, Ken has to tell Lorna about the events of that day.

Dylan has a brief conversation with Zoe over webcam, expecting to enjoy masturbating to her nude. Instead she tells him that she does not want him any more because she has found a better, new lover at university. Dylan decides to leave university after only three weeks there - having not attended any lectures - because he hates it. Ken is horrified, as he does not want Dylan to come home. He and Dale head there to try to pressure him to stay. Ken tries to have the tuition fees of £9,000 refunded, but that request is refused by the university supervisor. Dale enjoys his visit. Ken and Dylan cheer up when they attend a party which an attractive girl student, Charlie, invites them to. The party is ended by the supervisor. Ken leads Dylan, Dale and another student, Nathan, to lift the supervisor's electric car onto an island in a lake. They do so, and kill a duck in the process. The supervisor sees them and expels Dylan.

At the Thompson's, Sid's naming ceremony is taking place. Lorna sends an invitation to Ken's mother, Belinda. Ken is angry with Lorna for doing that as he hates Belinda and has not seen her for five years. Belinda drives from Spain in a 1976 Triumph Stag, a classic car which she inherited from Ken's father, Alan. Lorna hears Belinda on the phone to a 'consultant' who is actually a horoscope reader and mistakenly assumes that Belinda has terminal cancer - so she should go on a drive with his mother. Ken crashes her car, which he believes should be his. Rachel helps organise the ceremony, which Dale leads. Dylan has an argument with Zoe, who is at the ceremony with her new boyfriend, Max. Lorna tells Ken that Belinda is dying, before she reveals that she is not. Belinda also reveals that Alan was not his real father and that she was pregnant when she met him. Ken is shocked by this, and by Dale circumcising Sid.

Dylan has a low-paid job in phone sales, which Ken is disappointed with.

Ken is pleased to be nominated for Lichfield Lawyer of the Year; the ceremony - which also includes other categories - is run by Pegasus Alliance. Ken is disappointed when Jane tells him that she is also nominated. He is horrified at the photo of him which is on display in the office, in which he is clearly drunk and holding a can of lager. He believes that Jane will win. Lorna asks Nina to make sure that Ken wins. Dale is delighted that he and Rachel are in love with each other. He asks Ken for permission to propose to Rachel. Ken has no objection to him proposing, but advises him to find employment first. Dale has few skills which employers seek and when he goes to the job centre, he is advised to work on himself. He reads American self-help books. He is one of two living statues at the ceremony. During his break there, he tries to find work from the attendees, but collapses and has to leave. Jane wins the award.

Ken is suspended from work for a month for unprofessional behaviour, damage to the reputation of the firm and using the awards ceremony to insult his colleagues. He tries to prevent Lorna from finding out.

Dale starts the business partnership with Steve on the cocktail bar/beach bar. Rachel tries to persuade him to pull out and is disappointed that the premises that Steve and Dale have bought is in bad condition and in a bad part of the city. Their application for an alcohol licence is rejected by Frank, who says that he will accept it if he is bribed to do so.

Lorna pressures Ken to go along with her pretending to Frances that Sid is transgender to gain a place for him in her nursery. The couple put him in a dress and hold a birthday party for him at home. When Sid says that he was made to wear the dress, Frances is angry at their deception. Lorna decides to send flowers with a card apologising.

Ken is trapped in Steve's bar when a plasterboard wall is installed without a door in it. Steve pretends to try to have him released whilst keeping him there, tricking him into believing that Lorna has a new lover and that she wants Ken to move in with Steve permanently. Ken breaks through the wall and goes home, followed by Steve. Lorna is delighted that Dylan has a new girlfriend - until she finds out that it is Connie. Lorna is angry when Dylan asks Lorna to break up with her on his behalf. Connie tells Lorna that very soon after her engagement to Pepe, he was conscripted into the Israeli Army. Lorna refuses Dylan's request and he breaks up with Connie himself. She angrily leaves and bumps into Ken, whom she hates and deliberately knees in the groin. She then sees Steve and they passionately reunite.

Rachel has moved back home without Dale after completing her placement in Sierra Leone. Ken now runs his own law firm.

Ben returns from China, having fallen out with Ling's Triad father, whom he worked for. Ben has a new girlfriend, Tash, whom Rachel meets.

Ivy's divorce was finalised yesterday, so Steve throws a divorce party for her at his house. Lorna thinks Ivy is controlling Ken. She hates the bright suit that Ivy encouraged him to buy. At the party, Lorna cuts the suit up with Steve's sword. Ivy uses the sword to chop an effigy of Ron, then she stamps on it.

Ivy has a misunderstanding with her vet which results in him euthanising her dog. Ivy continues her plan to marry a British citizen. She tells Steve that she wants to enter a marriage of convenience with him. Steve is attracted to her and immediately agrees to marry her, thinking he can turn it into a conventional marriage, even though she tells him that he cannot. Steve holds a funeral for the dog and tells Ivy that he has had its head frozen. Ken and Lorna have dinner with Lorna's ex to try to gain funds for Ken's by-election campaign. A mix-up results in Steve having part of the Thompsons' dinner frozen and the Thompsons serving Ivy's dog's head at dinner, horrifying their guest.