2008 opened by picking up from the cliffhangers of the previous season. Rachel was seen tied up in her house and held hostage by the hospital stalker, now revealed to be Reverend Hall. Using all her psychiatric training Rachel was able to convince him to untie her but she slipped up on a bible question and he lost it with her but Rachel managed to push him off and escape. He fell, hitting his head and Rachel was able to call Tony for help before assisting Reverend Hall who was in the middle of a fit. Admitted to hospital it was revealed that he was suffering a brain tumour. After Geoff untied his hands whilst praying, Reverend Hall was able to escape and drove a car to a lookout high on the cliffs. Annie went to his rescue but Reverend Hall became convinced that he had to save Annie's 'purity' and attempted to drive the car off the cliff with both of them inside it. Roman and Geoff managed to thwart his attempt and saved Annie and Reverend Hall was re-admitted to hospital for treatment.
Though Rachel recovered quickly from her ordeal, his illness had a knock on effect for Annie Campbell who lost her faith and started rebelling. She got drunk and was found on the beach by Aden who was then accused of assaulting her and Annie went along with the lie, eventually Sally was able to get through to her and she re-found her faith and cleared Aden.
The beginning part of the year saw a low key departure for Lucas who headed to University after being waved off by Tony and Matilda and a split for Ric and Matilda following Viv's baby news. We also saw the beginning of what was to be her exit storyline when a pregnant and engaged Cassie, conned into a blood test by Martha and Henk, was told she was HIV positive. Devastated she ran from the clinic and was run over by a car, ending up in hospital with her friends overhearing her news. Determined to control who knew, Cassie refused to tell Sally of her diagnosis, instead demanding her friends kept quiet and she and Ric took some time out in the city to deal with her treatment.
The big storylines at the beginning of the year centered on Sally. The year began with her finding the word 'Milco' written in the sand and reflecting a lot on her childhood with nostalgic flashbacks to the early years. When the 'derro' Miles turned up at her house Sally befriended him and gave him a place to stay and food and a job and Miles opened up to her, revealing that he had lost his wife and daughter in a tsunami. Sally confided to her counsellor that she felt strangely close to him and the truth was later revealed in a moving episode, that Miles was 'Milco' her twin brother.
Sally was delighted but her joy was short lived when she heard the news that Johnny Cooper had escaped from prison and wanted revenge on Sally. Despite an armed guard of Miles and Roman, Johnny used Colleen to gain access to the house and Johnny was able to stab Sally and run off into the night. Rushed to hospital Sally 'died' on the operating table and we saw her return to The Caravan Park House, now empty of furniture, where she ran into her original foster father Tom. In an emotional episode Tom gave Sally a choice to either go back to her daughter and friends and family in the bay or to go on and be reunited with her beloved Flynn. Sally chose to live and Tom warned her that somebody would have to die in her place.
Sally returned to her life but a week later tragedy struck and Leah received the news that Dan had died. A moving memorial was held for him and the students staged their own tribute on the beach, led by Aden. Martin Bartlett, acting Principal in Sally's absence dealt with the student severely, against Sally's wishes but when Roman talked Aden into backing down, Martin was hailed by the department as a saviour and was given Sally's job. Gutted, she decided to resign rather than accept a different role.
Since running Dom over last year, Drew and Belle had been at loggerheads over pretty much everything but especially over her career. Belle followed her boss's orders even though it meant that Sally was painted in a bad light and Aden made out to be a hero over his beach rebellion. Drew accused her of lacking morals and following one of the most ferocious arguments in Home and Away history, Drew departed the bay. He later returned to say a real goodbye to belle and the two made peace before he departed for good.
With Drew gone Jazz was left with very little in her life and so turned her attention to winning Tony back from Rachel. Blackmailing Sam into lacing Rachel's drink with laxative, Jazz offered to accompany Tony to his school reunion but was gutted when, even drunk, Tony could only talk about Rachel. Jazz admitted defeat and turned her attention instead to Miles and the two became an unlikely couple. They split when Miles found out that Jazz had blackmailed Martin in an attempt to help him and he ended things, saying they were too different. Gutted Jazz departed the bay.
With Cassie and Ric back in the bay after Dan's death, Cassie told Sally of her diagnosis and Sally dealt with it well, better than Alf who reacted badly when Cassie decided to tell him and much better than Colleen who found out after the Diner began to collapse. With rubble falling everywhere, Cassie received a cut to her head and freaked out when Irene went to clean it out. Racing out, Roman went after her and guessed what was wrong and was so supportive that Cassie decided to tell Irene, Leah and Colleen. Though initially supportive Colleen was later seen trying to stop Pippa from holding Cassie's hand, highlighting the prejudice towards HIV. Cassie later revealed her illness to the school when she gave a talk on HIV in school. It had a knock on effect though on Aden who was horrified to hear that due to her bleeding on him in their car accident, earlier in the year, he may have also contracted it.
Before this year Aden had been the school bully but a combination of his popularity and some fantastic acting saw him take centre stage in 2008. After his rebellion on the beach, he was covered by the paper who revealed about his war hero grandfather but Aden reacted with fury towards Belle when the article was published. After the HIV test cleared him, Aden broke down and it became clear that he had serious problems. He went home and confronted his father violently, accusing him of turning a blind eye while his grandfather abused him. Running away Aden took shelter in the collapsed Diner and was caught up when more of it collapsed, trapping him. Found by sally thanks to a Floss premonition he was rushed to hospital where his father revealed his abuse to Rachel and sought her help. Unable to face going home, Aden moved in with Roman.
The earth fault that caused the Diner to collapse opened a can of worms for the Stewarts when a time capsule was found containing the diary of Sarah Townsend, Alf and Morag's mother. When presented with it by Colleen, Morag began to read it, only to collapse in a dead faint when the diary revealed that Alf's father had had an affair with Colleen's mother and Colleen was really a Stewart! Colleen was delighted but Alf and Morag were not so pleased. Eventually Alf came to see how much it meant to Colleen and gave her a hug on the beach but with Colleen having already hinted to Matilda that she was a 'Stewart' the rumour mill went into overdrive with everyone thinking Alf had proposed to Colleen! The truth was revealed and Colleen revelled in being a Stewart but Morag took a lot longer to come round to the idea.
With the Diner gone as a result of the earthquake fault, Irene and Roman were surprised when Leah received news that Dan had died saving a young boy's life and his father wanted to give Leah some money. With the money Leah wanted to set up a Den for young people to hang out in Dan's memory and offered the other side of the building to Irene and Roman for the new Diner.
As Sally dealt with where her life was heading, she became increasingly concerned with Tom's words that there was more to her life than Summer Bay. When an upset Cassie expressed a desire to start over, Sally suggested they go travelling together and Cassie quickly agreed, despite a last minute appeal by Henk. With Miles now a fixture both in the caravan park and the school, he set about organizing a farewell concert for her and Cassie and Ric managed to invite old friend Floss McPhee and Sally's original foster mother Pippa and siblings Carly and Steven. Sally made an emotional speech at her concert and soon after Cassie left on a road trip to Queensland, having felt her baby kick for the first time. Sally almost changed her mind about leaving when the Caravan Park was burgled by Noel Anderson in an attempt to get Ric to fight for him but Pippa managed to talk her round. The next day she said an emotional goodbye to Miles and to My Stewart, ending with her telling him that "You'll always be Mr Stewart to me, Alf" as she waved goodbye to the Bay for good.
Whilst Sally was planning her farewell, her nemesis Johnny Cooper was still on the loose in the Bay and it was revealed he was getting helped by none other than policeman's wife Sam Holden. Hiding him out in the annex at Tony's house, Sam did her best to prevent him from getting to Sally, despite him having a clear hold over her. She was thwarted though when Johnny overheard a reunited Ric and Matilda enter the house. Tying up Matilda and an unwitting Jazz, Johnny and Ric fought but Sam entered the fray and hit Johnny over the head with a baseball bat.
With Johnny in hospital Sam thought she was safe until he began to come round so she administered a fatal injection. She failed to cover her tracks though and became a suspect but deflected suspicion by paying someone to beat her up so that it looked like she was just another target of Johnny's killer. Unfortunately Johnny had left his own records behind in the form of a letter which was eventually found and read by Jack. Her pleas that she was pregnant failed to sway Jack from going to the police but after her subsequent miscarriage he took her to the hospital and she promptly disappeared. The next day she washed up dead.
Detective Ross Buckton arrived in town to investigate Sam's death and suspicion immediately fell on Jack and Martha, with all the evidence pointing to them. Morag though continued to fight her niece's corner, going against her old flame Ross and when, thanks to Roman's persistence, they found the boat that Sam had used to sail out to sea, Ross agreed that he's drop the charges if they could explain why Sam was so bruised. With the help of Tony and Jazz they managed to track down the man Sam had paid to beat her up and he admitted that Sam had killed herself in order to frame Jack and Martha. In the aftermath of Sam's funeral, her son Rory left town and Roman freed Martha who quickly reunited with Jack and Morag and Ross became an item.
To read Part Two, click here.