Twins Brandon and Brenda begin school at trendy West Beverly High after moving from Minnesota. Brandon joins the newspaper and meets Andrea Zuckerman, the intelligent and devoted editor. Brenda is befriended by snobbish Kelly, who picks her as a chemistry lab partner to avoid being paired with a fat girl. A rich but reclusive girl invites the entire school (except the freshmen) to a party at her house, complete with a live rock band. Freshmen David and Scott crash the party, and the drunken Stev
Brandon meets and befriends Dylan McKay, a brooding classmate. As they continue to spend time together, Brandon learns that Dylan's bad-boy act masks a hidden life that few people ever see. The beach is the place to be at for the West Bev students and also where Brenda sees Kelly's true colors. Steve's mother convinces him to talk to David after mistakenly thinking that his father is a wealthy TV show producer. ----
Brenda goes shopping with Kelly and her wild friend Tiffany and wishes that she had their kind of money. Unbeknownst to her, Tiffany is a shoplifter and when they get arrested, Brenda begins losing her mother's trust. Meanwhile, Brandon gets a job at a trendy restaurant where his boss treats him horribly and pays the minority employees less than minimum wage. Cindy grows uncomfortable when Jim hires a maid. ----
Sheryl, Brandon's old girlfriend from Minneapolis, stays with the Walshes for the weekend. A concerned Cindy asks Jim to have a talk with Brandon. Before he gets around to it, Sheryl spends the night in Brandon's room. Sheryl seems obsessed with wealth and fame, and takes a liking to Dylan and his Porsche. Brandon believes that Dylan is hitting on Sheryl and punches him. Brandon is stunned to learn that he was not the first guy to sleep with Sheryl. Sheryl's mother calls Cindy and reveals that h
When Brandon and Steve try out for the basketball team, Brandon learns that the school recruits minority students from out of the district in order to boost their stats and is forced to make a difficult choice in order to secure a spot on the team and make his father proud. Meanwhile, Brenda decides to take driver’s education again, but fails twice and ends up losing Brandon’s car when trying to pick Kelly up from a bad date. ----
Brandon is getting a C in American History because of the teacher's unreasonable grade curve, in which 80 percent of the students receive C's regardless of their marks. Steve scores an A on every test because he obtains copies of the exams beforehand. Feeling pressure from Jim about his grades, Brandon cheats on a quiz. Andrea is furious, particularly when her grades slip as a result. Brandon is faced with a moral dilemma when Steve offers him a copy of the midterm. Brenda tries to dye her hair
Brenda is mesmerized by Kelly's hip and glamorous mother Jackie, a former model. Kelly insists that her mother is not all that she appears to be. Jackie is a recovering addict, and begins hitting the bottle again after her boyfriend dumps her. Cindy is hurt when Brenda initially fails to ask her to be in a mother-daughter fashion show. They eventually agree to appear, and are joined by Andrea, who draws raves. Jackie attempts to emcee the show while high on cocaine. She becomes disoriented and d
Following their disappointing seventeenth wedding anniversary, Cindy feels like the intimacy is lost between her and Jim and engages in an emotional affair with her old college boyfriend who has moved to town, scaring Brenda into thinking her parents are headed for divorce. Meanwhile, Brenda and Brandon participate in a UCLA study on twins. Also, David wants to be the new school DJ. ----
As the students of West Beverly get pumped for Grudge Week against Beverly Hills High, Brenda grows annoyed by her friends' lack of school spirit. She volunteers for a teen crisis hotline and violates the rules when she takes an after-hours call from a date-rape victim, who is still in danger. Meanwhile, Brandon thinks that a sexy older woman named Nina is attracted to him and makes preparations to have sex with her. Brandon is also followed around school by a lovesick freshman girl to his annoy
Brenda and Dylan start dating, causing differing opinions in the Walsh house. When sex becomes an option, Brenda learns that he may be too intense for her. Dylan's father arrives back to the hotel and criticizes Dylan. Brenda falls for Dylan a lot more when she learns about how bad his estranged relationship with his father is. Dylan finds out his father will be indicted for tax and securities fraud. As a result, Dylan stands up Brenda for a date. Brenda is heartbroken. Meanwhile, the gang begin
Brenda goads Brandon into taking her to a party at Donna's house. He voices his objections to alcohol, but Steve spikes his drink. He decides to go along with it so that he won't appear ""uncool."" Kelly gets drunk and sleeps with Steve. Cindy catches Brenda with alcohol on her breath, but Brandon gets by unscathed. Jim and Cindy attend a weekend retreat, where they are forced to spend all their time with an overly friendly couple. Brenda convinces Brandon to throw a party, but they agree not to
Brandon meets senior Melissa Coolidge on the school lawn during lunch. He makes a date with her, and learns that she is the mother of an infant son, Joey. Brandon is forced into emergency babysitting duty while Melissa has an interview with Harvard. Jim and Cindy are unavailable, but Steve helps Brandon through the afternoon. Melissa's interview does not go well, and she becomes frustrated with her life. She fears that she may have to give up her son, but Cindy calms her with a heart-to-heart ta
Brenda invites Kelly, Donna and Andrea over for a ""night of female bonding."" They are having a good time until Kelly's friend Amanda shows up. She insults everyone and decides to turn the girls against each other. As part of a ""game"" about secrets, Amanda bullies Kelly into describing her first sexual encounter, in which she was humiliated by the football captain. After Brenda recalls stealing a Minnesota friend's boyfriend, Kelly admits that she tried to hit on Dylan. The girls eventually m
The Walshes agree to let their maid's extremely intelligent ""niece,"" Carla, use their address to enroll at West Beverly. Brandon falls hard for her, but doesn't understand why everyone seems opposed to their relationship. Carla reveals that she witnessed a drive-by shooting that claimed the life of a four-year-old; she had moved in with Anna while waiting to testify, with protection from the D.A. Carla returns to her family after one of the killers confesses. Jim and Cindy organize a soiree fo
David invites Steve, Kelly and Donna to his grandparents' luxurious Palm Springs home for President's Day weekend. He is embarrassed to find that his grandparents, who he believed were on a cruise, are actually at home. David meets a strange girl at a gas station and asks her over to the house. She brings friends for Steve, who is still trying to win back Kelly. Brenda plans to spend the weekend with Dylan, but cannot remember the name of his hotel. She loses her wallet and spends the night in a
Brandon is rollerblading in the park while the television show Keep It Together is filming an episode. The producers seek him out as an emergency replacement for one of the extras. He hits it off with the star, Lydia Leeds, and is considered for a recurring role. However, Lydia is only using him to make her leading man/boyfriend jealous so that he will end his holdout. Brenda fills in for Brandon at the Peach Pit. She is in over her head until she adopts the persona of Laverne, a sassy, gum-chom
Andrea persuades Brandon to run for class president. Kelly seizes control of the campaign and encourages Brandon to capitalize on his looks and image. She even agrees to a date with David in exchange for his help producing a campaign video. Brandon decides that he isn't the best man for the job after talking with his bright and dedicated opponent. Brenda, feeling neglected by family and friends, begins hanging out at a coffeehouse. Sky, a performance artist, convinces Brenda to drop out of high
Everyone but Dylan is driven into a frenzy by the upcoming SATs. A completely panicked Andrea seeks help from Steve, who attended an expensive SAT prep course. During their study session, they end up kissing, and avoid each other for days. Kelly reads an article about breast health, so the girls take time out from studying for a self-exam. Brenda discovers a lump in her breast and must undergo a biopsy. Cindy and Brenda are haunted by memories of Cindy's sister Sheila, who died of breast cancer.
Brandon gets assigned to a story on West Beverly's star tennis player, Richard Azarian, who is initially resistant but finally allows Brandon to interview him. He finds a screenplay that Richard wrote, and it's autobiographical contents lead Brandon to worry that the tennis star may be considering patricide. Meanwhile, the gang learn their SAT scores, and Donna's low scores convince her that hanging out with the school's loser quotient is the only future she has.
A dog follows Brenda home from a jog. She tries desperately to find the animal a home so that she won't have to take it to a shelter. Brandon and Steve must take over Jim's little league team after he injures his back during infield practice. Brandon is disgusted with the whole experience, particularly the undue influence of the league president (father of the star pitcher) and the players' attitudes. He arranges a practice game with Nat's team of underprivileged kids, where one of his players t
West Beverly prepares for the annual Spring Dance and Kelly, preoccupied with being named Spring Princess and asks Brandon to be her date, which stirs up romantic feelings. Jealous, Steve gets drunk and lashes out at everyone, revealing a deep family secret. Andrea is not going to the dance and is upset when she finds out that Brandon is going with Kelly. Brenda finally loses her virginity to Dylan in their hotel room. David enters a contest to win the first dance with the Spring Princess. Donna
Jim is offered a promotion that requires a move back to Minneapolis. He initially decides to respect his family's wishes and decline the job, but changes his mind when the boss offers to double his salary. Steve pushes Brandon away, and Brenda feels that Kelly and Donna are ignoring her. Dylan wishes to try a long-distance relationship, but Brenda breaks up with him. Andrea wants to sleep with Brandon before he leaves, and he agrees. Their rendezvous is cancelled when Kelly organizes a going-awa