After enjoying a successful summer in London, Brenda decides to stay in England and pursue her stage career. With her room vacant, the Walsh family agrees to take in Valerie Malone, the college-age daughter of a family friend who has committed suicide. Valerie appears charming and likable, but unknown to the group, she is actually cynical and manipulative... and plots to get involved with Steve for his money. Donna returns from her summer stay in Texas and claims that she's over with David, who's doing a video for his film class, with a little help from Nat, about his summer of working with Babyface, dating and being dumped by both a girlfriend and the tour, and having some good luck near the end of the season. The good news is that David is going to have a single dorm room and received a brand new car as a gift from his grandparents. But that evening, Donna has an emotional meltdown when she runs into David at a nightclub. Meanwhile, Dylan breezes back into town after an alcohol binge-filled summer in Mexico while he tries to process the loss of his entire fortune when his step-mother Suzanne and her boyfriend Kevin stole his money. Kelly and Brandon take their relationship public. Also, Jesse and Andrea take their premature baby daughter, Hannah, home from the hospital after Andrea details how her mother's intuition was the reason Hannah is still alive.

Where there's smoke, there's fire, in Kelly's opinion... at least where Valerie is concerned. Kelly begins to distrust Valerie when she smells Valerie smoking pot, but cannot convince anyone that the manipulative Valerie is bad news. Both Steve and Brandon refuse to believe Kelly, while Donna doesn't seem to care. Meanwhile, Steve organizes a two-night rave party at the Peach Pit. Valerie also begins to suspect the truth about Dylan's financial situation when she sees him pocketing money from the til at the Peach Pit. Meanwhile, Andrea heads out for a night on the town and spies Jesse flirting on the job; he later takes time off from work to set up a romantic dinner for them at home while their baby sleeps. While working on a video project with David and Clare, Donna meets a musician and carpenter named Ray Pruit. That evening, when Kelly begins following/stalking Valerie hoping to catch her at something to prove herself right, she finds Val at the Peach Pit drinking, smoking cigarettes, and flirting with Dylan in a back storage room. Kelly quickly tells Steve about it, but when they both confront Valerie, she spins it around by saying that Kelly misinterperted what she saw, claiming that Dylan was making a pass at her. Steve believes Valerie, but Kelly rightfully doesn't. Later at the beachfront apartment, Kelly angrily tells Brandon all about what happened, explaining how Valerie so expertly lied to and fooled Steve and that she is fooling everyone else to the person she really is. Kelly also finally admits that she doesn't like or trust Valerie and never has, but Brandon continues to remain skeptical and advises Kelly to give Valerie the benefit of a doubt. At the end, the suspicious Valerie gets Dylan drunk at his home where he finally confesses to her that he is broke.

Brandon's former girlfriend, Emily Valentine, flies back from Paris to attend a seminar at La Jolla University. She asks Brandon to meet her at the airport, claiming to have just a four-hour layover. She actually has a week until the beginning of her seminar, but Brandon breaks her heart by revealing that he is dating Kelly. Meanwhile, Steve and Griffin organize a holiday rave at an abandoned Hollywood house. Valerie helps them out in the hopes of getting back in Steve's good graces. David and Clare accidentally post the notice about the event on a computer bulletin board for lesbians, who constitute most of the guests. The house has very poor wiring and continually blows fuses. Griffin uses too much electricity by putting in more fuses, and the house catches on fire. Ray rescues Steve and Valerie, who were fooling around in one of the bedrooms. Griffin runs away unnoticed when the fire department and police show up to put out the fire, leaving behind Steve who has to explain to the officers at what he is doing there. Kelly and a girl named Allison are trapped in a downstairs bathroom with no means of escape.

In the aftermath of the house fire, Kelly suffers second and third degree burns on right arm, wrist, ear, and the whole right side of her neck and back. Allison's injuries are much more severe, but she maintains a positive attitude. While Kelly recovers at the beachfront apartment tended by her mother Jackie, Brandon is racked with guilt because of his feelings for Emily and that he was not there for Kelly. Kelly does not react well when she learns that Emily is still in town. But after visiting Dylan at the halfway house and meeting Emily herself, Kelly learns that Brandon still loves her. Meanwhile, Steve feels guilty for the house fire and calls upon his father, Rush, to help out after Griffin abandons him. Due to Steve's legal troubles, Valerie distances herself from him which leads to Steve to finally realize that Valerie really is a bad person who was only interested in him for his money. Griffin's father hires a professional attorney for Steve and Griffin where Rush, after looking over the case, advises both of them to plead no contest to one count of disturbing the peace in order to avoid jail time. At their arraignment, Steve and Griffin follow Rush's advice and they both receive two years of probation and 100 hours of community service... and are also forbidden from organizing or attending dance clubs, raves or parties for two years... thus dashing Steve's future plans and career as a party promoter. Steve is furious to learn of this provision that Rush arranged with the judge, but Steve is more shocked and angry when he discovers the truth behind all of this: Griffin had stolen the keys from his father's real estate office to the Hollywood house, lying to Steve about obtaining permission to use it for the rave. Afterwards at the KEG house, Steve privately confronts Griffin over the house key theft and the events from that night in which Griffin inadvertently started the fire that put Kelly and the other girl in the hospital. When the smarmy Griffin shows no guilt or remorse over any of his actions, the enraged Steve physically assaults Griffin and orders him to move out of the KEG house and leave the fraternity immediately, as well as never talk to him again; Griffin reluctantly complies. Elsewhere, Ray's perpetual bad mood confuses Donna. He explains that his alcoholic mother always begins drinking around the holidays, because his equally drunkard father left her on Christmas day over 20 years ago after pushing her down a flight of stairs and causing her to have a miscarriage. Elsewhere, Andrea and Jesse throw a party for Hannah's first Hanukkah. Jesse obtains work as an attorney for those who cannot afford representation and takes his very first case involving child abuse. Later, Jesse's confidence turns into anger and frustration after the end result of his case (not shown on camera), which is the court's harsh and unfair treatment of a widowed Mexican immigrant father whose two children are taken away by Social Services after a babysitter neglects them. Jesse's angry story about the case and lesson about injustice to Steve leads Steve to do a good deed. At the end, Dylan comes home from rehab and is greeted by a letter from a stranger in Michigan who found Erica's note in the LAX ladies room (from Season 4) pleading for his help; the note reads: 'Dylan... Kevin and my mother are taking me to Brazil. Help me! Erica'.

Brandon has the whole gang partake with him in a Valentine's Day call-in telethon that is held at the Peach Pit After Dark. Valerie moves out of the Walshes' and into a fancy hotel suite for herself. Brandon and Kelly's relationship troubles come to a head at Finley's new headquarters, and a heartbroken Brandon turns to an unlikely source for help. Meanwhile, when Donna refuses to sleep with Ray, his pent-up frustration inadvertently leads him to Valerie's hotel room. Ray's mother, LuAnn, figures out that he cheated on Donna, but covers for him. Also, Andrea and Jesse have a run-in with Peter and his wife. Elsewhere, Steve tries to secure the R&B group 'Jade' for the Valentine's Day telethon at the Peach Pit After Dark.

The campus is in an uproar when an alleged rapist is released from custody. Despite his alibi, the students are sure that Lenny is responsible for the string of crimes on campus. And while everyone is fixated on Lenny, the real rapist is in the perfect position to strike again when he targets Donna and holds her hostage at her beach apartment, where quick thinking from David and pure rage from Donna save her from a terrible fate. Meanwhile, Valerie manipulates Donna and everyone into believing that David is the one responsible for Ray's departure from Los Angeles. Steve tries to secure the rock group, the Flaming Lips, as the new band for the After Dark. Also, Dylan finds out about Andrea's extramarital affair with Peter when he sees them together at Charley's motel while he and Charley are working on a movie script. Later, when Andrea offers to leave Jesse to be with Peter, he refuses to leave his wife and as a result, Andrea angrily breaks up with him.

Ray is happy that Donna has come to Portland, Oregon to visit him but annoyed (though silently) at David who is tagging along to visit his estranged mother. David panics when he discovers that his mother was fired, no longer lives at her last known address, and hasn't cashed her alimony checks for months. He turns to Donna for help, and Ray behaves like a total jerk. David and Donna cannot find Sheila at any of her favorite hangouts and learn that she was recently arrested. Donna misses Ray's concert; he explodes and shoves her against a wall in their hotel room. He later feels guilty and loans David his truck. Mel flies in from Los Angeles and tells David that Sheila has a life-long history of mental illness (she was diagnosed at a young age as a manic depressive and had a nervous breakdown after her divorce from Mel). They receive a tip that she is living on the streets and are able to find her and bring her to the hospital. David realizes that Donna is happy with Ray and decides to back off. Back in California, Dylan explores hypnotherapy in the hopes of understanding the main character in Charley's script. Also, Valerie gets a tattoo.

Dylan asks Kelly to join him on a trip around the world. Valerie sees the tickets in Kelly's room and tells Brandon. Brandon counters with a marriage proposal, and Kelly asks for time to think things over. She eventually rejects both men and proclaims, 'I choose me.' Andrea and Jesse prepare for their move to Connecticut. The gang surprises her by organizing a picnic lunch at West Beverly High (although Brandon and Dylan, still waiting for Kelly's decision, opt not to attend). Everyone meets Andrea and Jesse at the Peach Pit one last time to say goodbye. Meanwhile, Ray lashes out at Donna for devoting time to her friends and studying for finals. He drags her away from Andrea's picnic and verbally berates her, and Donna has a talk with Kelly about the difficulties of relationships. Jim finds out that his company wasn't looking to fire him but were preparing an offer of a promotion and substantial raise--if he agrees to move to Hong Kong and take over their new office there. He and Cindy decide to go through with the move.

Guess starring Sibel Ergener.

David tells Brandon about Kelly and Allison, and Brandon humiliates Kelly with his drunken ramblings. Brandon plans to give in to Valerie. But that night, the police pull over Brandon and arrest him when a joint is found in Valerie's car. He is released the next morning, but rejects Valerie for getting him in trouble in which she shows more concern for her impounded car than Brandon. He clears the air with Kelly before heading home, and refuses another reconciliation attempt. After learning that Tom Rose used knew his father, Dylan tries to contact Christine Pettit for information, but Rose traces the phone call. The next morning, Tom Rose takes Dylan up in a tramcar on the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, where his goons hold him over the edge. Rose tells Dylan that he had nothing to do with Jack McKay's murder, yet he claims that he does know the identity of Jack's killer... but he'll only tell Dylan if Dylan is willing to die for the information, which he is not. After being released, Dylan backs out of the movie deal and ends all of his business with Charley. Dylan and Brandon end up sharing a bus ride back to Beverly Hills. When Dylan gets home, he gets his gun out of storage and quietly vows to track down and kill his father's murderer. Elsewhere, Ray becomes physical with Donna during an argument and knocks her down the stairs. She suffers an arm injury, and is unnerved when her mother suddenly gives Ray her approval. Valerie tells Donna that she saw Ray push her, but Donna denies it and lashes out at Valerie, aware that she and Ray have been seeing each other. Also, Steve discovers the truth about his 'goddess.' At the end, Brandon learns that his parents house has been sold, and he must move out in two weeks. He and Valerie end up making out.

• 32 episodes
• 1370 minutes (Region 1); 1370 minutes (Region 2);^[7]
• 8-disc set
• 1.33:1 aspect ratio
• Languages:
  • English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles:
  • English, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Swedish and French (Region 1)