The fall-out from the shooting sends shockwaves through Oakdale. Emma becomes a walking zombie, blaming herself and Jack & Carly for bringing Grant to Oakdale. Lisa tries to help her friend cope, but finds that she too is having trouble with it all. Grant's lawyer reads the will (which he informs them Grant made changes to right before he died) and notifies Emma and Lisa that his whole estate, money, and everything is to be split between the two. While Lisa tucks her money away, Emma gives hers all to chairty, sparing just enough to live off of. Emma's still not happy though and begins writing a journal. One day, Faith comes by and mistakes the journal for her own. When Emma notices that she has Faith's journal, she rushes to Faith's english class. But it's too late. Everyone has read the entries and Emma is even more shocked when the teacher offers to have a close friend publish some of the entries as a book of poems. Emma, with urging from friends and family, reluctantly agrees. Her family tells her that when she wrote those romance novels all those years ago, she was a smashing author and she'll be the same this time around. Indeed, the book is a success, making Emma a well-known author in the U.S. Later, while traveling to promote her book, Emma comes across a dead ringer for Grant. The man (also played by Jerry Douglas) agrees to come to Oakdale with her, sending shockwaves through the town when he does. Though Emma's reluctant to fall in love again, she soon finds herself falling head over heels for Grant's look-a-like. Lisa soon gets jealous and preys on Emma's grief, creating a memorial to Grant with her share of Grant's money that he left behind. Emma learns of it all and verbally rips Lisa apart in front of everyone, claiming she's still the coldhearted, manipulative little b.tch she was when she came to Oakdale.

Andy & Emily make the decision to finally have the wedding that they've been putting off. In light of recent events, Andy forces Kim and Susan to call a truce so that they can work together to plan the perfect wedding. In the meantime, Hope (played by Davetta Sherwood) comes back to Oakdale. In a scene only a soap opera could pull off, Hope stops the wedding and tearfully pleads with her father to come back home. Her mother, Denise, is dying of an incurable ailment and is asking for him. Emily urges Andy to follow through with the wedding, and the two finally tie the knot. Afterwards, Andy packs up for Pittsburgh only to discover Denise as healthy as a hound. Andy scolds Hope for lying to him and Denise admits to Andy that Hope's childish antics are more than she can handle. Andy agrees to assume custody of Hope for a few months until Denise can sell the four nightclubs she owns and manages. So when Andy returns to Oakdale with Hope in tow, you can only expect sparks to fly between Emily and the young girl deadset on destroying her newfound happiness.

Chris suffers the consequences of his actions and faces jail time after his parents persuade him to turn himself in. Luckily, Chris's new flame Roxie is able to blackmail the judge, who lets Chris off on six years probation and 400 hours of community service. However, the Hughes family is nothing like it once was. Except for Andy's marriage and Hope's arrival in Oakdale, no occasion is a happy occasion. Nancy submerges herself in her new apartment complex, making friends with several people. One of those people, unbeknowst to Nancy, is Hillary Carter (portrayed by Mary Tyler Moore) who just so happens to be Mrs. Adams's sister. Hillary urges Nancy to forgive Chris. Meanwhile, Kim becomes unsettled when she's forced to do a segment on WOAK pertaining to assisted suicide. Bob buries himself in work. But when tragedy strikes, the family must pull together to survive.

Will and Gwen have definite trust issues after Grant's birthday party. Gwen finally reveals to Will that before she ever came to Oakdale, she stooped to such a level that she would get romantic with boys, and when they were just about to fall in love, she'd high tail it with nearly everything of considerable value. Will, in time, finally forgives her and admits that they're past all of that. All he sees in the future is him and her. Together. Forever. And that's all that matters. But then one day, Will comes home and finds pregnant Gwen lying unconscious on the floor. He rushes her to the hospital and the doctors urge Will to persuade Gwen into an abortion. The pregnancy is just too risky. Will refuses the idea until he learns that Gwen's life might be in danger at the time of the delivery. Gwen assures Will that everything will be okay. A few months pass and Gwen goes into labor. The doctors force Will to choose between Gwen and the baby, and he chooses Gwen. Miraculously, however, they both survive. Pretty soon, Gwen learns that Will chose her instead of their newborn son. After a few months of arguments and separation, the two are reunited when they receive troubling information regarding their son. He's almost legally deaf.

Leah's return to Oakdale spells trouble for Tom and Margo. It seems that Leah, Margo's cellmate when she was held captive by The Children Of Promise, has gotten herself into quite the predicament. While Tom agrees to represent Leah, Margo begins to question her friend's true intentions. Tom tries to eliminate Margo's suspicions, but it just drives her to investigate further. Pretty soon, Margo discovers something that she might soon wish she had never unearthed. Ben and Jessica would also be heavily featured in this storyline. Plus, a visiting Casey (portrayed by Zach Roerig) puts a kink in Luke and Maddie's recently repaired relationship. After a dramatic turn of events, Maddie and Luke part as just friends. Casey convinces Maddie to leave town with him and they leave Oakdale to attend college in Maine together.

Millicent grabs up her husband and daughter's remains and buries them in Oakdale, claiming they were never worth the energy to have them buried where they both wanted. One night, Dana comes to Millicent in a dream. She blames her father for most of their troubles, but says that after all of it, Milly was a changed woman and never accepted Dana. Dana, in a fiery rage, pushes Milly off the top of a building. And as everyone knows, if you have a falling dream and you hit the bottom, you die. And in a soap opera, we all know that characters some die rather interesting deaths. (Such is the case.)

Summer starts and Jack gets worried when Carly stops calling him on a daily basis like she has been (off-screen). Though he phones the clinic day after day, he can never get through. It always says the line has been disconnected. Jack fears that James is back to his old tricks again. He gets a surprise though when Carly arrives back home with Rosanna (portrayed by Yvonne Perry) in tow! Rosanna goes through a brief stage of not being able to talk, which both Carly and Jack help her through. Soon, TWOO would have done perhaps one of the most controversial storylines a daytime soap could ever imagine doing. School starts back and Carly begins to notice a 6 year old Sage has bruise marks from time to time. Parent/teacher conferences are called, but the teacher (portrayed by Ian Kahn: hooker-beater "Eliot" from ATWT) denies that Sage has been violently assaulted in any way. Finally, one day, Parker comes home frantic, worried about Sage. He went to pick her up and walk with her to the bus, but the teacher said that Sage had to stay to finish her drawings and he would bring her home. However, Parker didn't leave, not trusting the teacher, and soon heard Sage crying, the teacher slapping Sage, and "bad sounds". Jack blasts into the school and finds Sage lying nearly unconscious on the floor. Her panties are pulled down and it's obvious she's been slapped around and has been crying. Jack and Carly, in a touching scene, rush little Sage to the hospital. As the whole community pulls together to comfort CarJack, they all vow to find the sick bastard who has done this. Jack calls out all the squad cars and officers to search for the teacher, while Maura West delivers another Emmy-worthy performance as grief-stricken, infuriated, horrified, worried mother of three, "Carly". The teacher is brought in and in a tension-filled room, Jack jumps the teacher and begins to bloodily beat him to the ground. Carly storms through the doors and finds the man begging for mercy. As the cops bring him back up from the ground and Margo restrains Jack, Carly walks right up and spits in his face. No doubt, there would have been such an aftermath from this dramatic, once in a blue moon storyline, that it would've taken years to write it all out.

*NOTE: Starting with Episode 301, Shawn Christian would have assumed the role of "Mike Kasnoff" from a departing Mark Collier.*
Mike and Katie arrive in Oakdale and Katie sees Simon again. She finally confides in Henry that she thinks she's losing it. In a comical turn of events that only Henry and Katie could pull off (with Henry in drag, no doubt), Simon finally reveals himself to Katie and he says that the man that set her up and brought Pilar to town was Donovan Curry, who was the dangerous man that Simon's been running away from all this time. Katie asks for evidence that it's really Simon. He does everything except showing her his birthmark...."you know where". Katie is both delighted that the Simon she feel in love with never left, but confused at the same time. Months and months of story are involved, but eventually Katie runs off with Simon, leaving Mike all alone. And who does he see but Rosanna! Through a few more months of story and comforting one another, the two old lovers hit it off once again and sail into the sunset together.

Holden and Lily, after months and months of story, are finally able to overcome the hurt, the heartbreak, the betrayal that Lily's kiss with Mike caused. Meanwhile, Holden and Lucinda work diligently to get Craig out of their hair. Craig laughs at his mother's attempt to restore the person she once knew. Lyla, saddened that Craig is forever lost to her, Katie is gone, and Margo has troubles of her own, would've left town. Coincidentally, around the same time she left town, John Dixon would be on the same bus. Would the two former lovers and proud parents of hardworking, law upholding, heart of gold, policewoman Margo Hughes resumed the romance that left them all those years ago? One might never know. However, what one does know is this. Holden and Lily would concoct a scheme to rid Oakdale of Craig. Much like the time before when Dusty and Paul were involved, Lucinda and Holden would set it up to look like Craig was evading his taxes and stealing money from Worldwide. But Craig, much too smart for them, would turn the tables while they weren't looking and both Holden & Lucinda would be arrested. Now, both fuming mad, their only hope would be a bed-ridden, very pregnant Lily. So it looks like they're stuck. Or are they? Luke, though a bit heartbroken, still lurks somewhere in Oakdale. While Craig tries charming his ex-step-nephew-in-law to ally with him, it doesn't work. Luke provides the evidence to send Craig back to jail and set his father and grandmother free...just in time for them to get a call that Emma has rushed Lily to the hospital. Holden & Lucinda walk through the hospital doors in just enough time to see Ethan Walsh Snyder born into the world.

Barbara brings back B.R.O. with a vengeance. In an effort to bring the B.R.O. name back from near extinction, she searches the country in hopes of nabbing the perfect person to help her with her new line. While seeking aid from a wealthy former colleague of hers, the woman's assistant Jada (portrayed by Elena Goode) walks in. Barbara is mesmerized by Jada and brings her to Oakdale. Jada forms an immediate bond with Barbara and the two women start work on resurrecting B.R.O in high style and high hopes. What Barbara doesn't know, though, is that Jada has a past life of her own that is as equally dramatized as any life in Oakdale is. She's running from an abusive ex-love that soon puts both lives in danger. Thankfully, they're finally rescued when Paul (portrayed by Scott Holiroyd) returns and saves the day.

Susan finds love with a man named Neil. Though Neil (portrayed by a daytime veteran) loves Susan, Susan finds herself in a situation she never thought she'd have to face. Neil, a well-known cardiologist, has a bad cocaine problem. His bad habit could very well be the end of him, but not if Susan has anything to say about it. Susan, in a storyline that would bring this character back to the forefront, must derive strength from her past battles with alcoholism to save the man she loves from a bad drug habit that could ruin him professionally and personally.

For more of the John/Roxie story, "watch" From These Roots right here on SONBC.