Mike and Jennifer cuddle, although his mind keeps straying to memories of Katie. Jennifer tells Mike that she intends to become Katie's best friend. Mike invites Jen to spend New Year's Eve with him. Meanwhile, Katie concocts a plan to stage a break-up with Simon right in front of Mike. The plot involves Henry into asking Jennifer for a job in order to keep her occupied while Katie lures Mike over to her house to fix a plumbing leak. Katie and Henry put the plan into action, and Mike reacts just as Katie had hoped he would, insisting on staying with her to help her through the "breakup." Unfortunately for Katie and Henry, Jennifer catches on to the fact that something fishy is going on.
Craig goes to Lucinda's house to demand information about Lucy's disappearance, and there he discovers the closed-circuit television, which is still televising the cell in which he was imprisoned. Craig forces Lucinda to call Sierra and insist that she come home, interrupting her conference with Dusty and Jordan. Before Sierra leaves, the three agree that Dusty and Jordan should go try to get information on Dominic from Bud, the gym manager. Sierra goes home and stuns Craig by telling him that Lucy was looking for him when her plane went down. Dusty and Jordan arrive at the gym and find a pool of blood oozing from a locker. The open the locker, and Bud falls out. Bud is able to gasp out the words, "Saw Tooth," before he collapses, giving Dusty and Jordan the clue they needed to head for Idaho.
In the abandoned mine in the mountains of Idaho, Lucy and Rafael reminisce about the closeness they shared as children, and speculate that this shared experience might change their future. Suddenly everything caves in on them.
Dusty and Jordan try to revive Bud, who is only able to tell them that Lucy and Rafael may be somewhere in the "Saw Tooth" mountains of Idaho before he dies. Dusty and Jordan are certain that Dominic has killed Bud, and they decide to try to find him. Before they can leave, Detective Hughes and a group of officers arrive to take them in for questioning. Dusty pleads with Margo to let them talk with Lucinda -- Margo agrees, but insists that an officer escort them to the Walsh mansion and then to the police station.
Dusty and Jordan have reason to be so worried -- time is running out on Lucy and Rafael! The heavy snow in the Idaho mountains has caused an avalanche, which has crushed the building in which Lucy and Rafael have taken shelter. When Lucy realizes they are trapped, she panics and insists they will die. Rafael tries to be optimistic, but does admit to Lucy that they may not be rescued. He chooses this moment to tell Lucy that he has always loved her -- and not just as a friend. She kisses his cheek in friendship, but he leans down for a passionate kiss, which she returns.
Alison visits Will in his hiding place. He admits to Alison that the person he saw in Fairwinds was Emily, his father's wife! Will is certain that Ali won't believe him, but she does, and she insists that he call someone to get help. When Ali leaves, Will decides to call Paul who agrees to help Will. Will tells Paul that he saw Emily trying to leave a baby doll in their home. Will is surprised when Paul believes him, and Paul leaves the hideout to "get to the bottom of this."
Alison doesn't bother to knock on the door of her sister's home, and when she enters the kitchen, she catches Barbara putting drops of the formula into a teacup. Unfortunately, Alison doesn't see what Barbara is actually doing because Barbara jumps, drops the teacup into the sink, breaking the teacup and losing the formula. Barbara is outraged at Alison telling her she has no idea what she has done by barging in, but Alison defends herself, telling Barbara that she can visit her sister whenever she likes. Emily confirms this, as she walks down the stairs. Clearly, Emily's nap has done wonders -- the drug seems to be out of her system! She says she feels much better -- much to Barbara's dismay. And things are about to get worse for Barbara -- just as she is able to throw the teacup into the garbage, an officer arrives to escort her to the hospital for an evaluation. She pleads with the officer and Emily to let her stay, that she has to much to do at the moment, but Emily -- back in her right mind -- reminds Barbara that the evaluation is not an option and Barbara is whisked away.
Jennifer has figured out that something is fishy with Henry and Katie's behavior and she calls Mike to share her suspicions. When Katie returns to the room Mike confronts her about all the holes in her stories. Katie is both terrified and relieved to finally tell Mike the truth. She doesn't hold back. She tells him that she broke off the relationship with Simon before she left for Australia because she found out that Simon had paid Pilar to get between Katie and Mike. Mike, of course, can't understand why Katie didn't tell him the truth then, but Katie tells him that she didn't feel that she should because when they talked, he was so looking forward to his new life and so she left anyway. Mike tells her that he would indeed have wanted to get back together -- that he loved her -- if only she had been honest with him. Katie is devastated by those words, and insists she still loves him. It seems that Mike may also still love Katie, but he is outraged by her deception and tells her that he cannot trust her. He leaves her home in anger, and when he finds Jennifer, kisses her passionately and thanks her for being someone whom he can trust.
Emily is shocked and then furious when Paul confronts her and ultimately throws him out. Paul refuses to give up and sneaks into the house while Emily is out trying to find Hal. Paul discovers the receipt for the doll that was used to haunt Rosanna but is nearly caught when Emily returns home. He slips out of the house but later, while Emily realizes that someone was in the house, Paul tells Will that he has proof of what Emily has done.
Jessica has gathered all the information she needs to prove that Ben wasn't responsible for Aaron's condition, including information that points the finger at the anesthesiologist who was on duty the night of the operation. Aaron learns of Jessica's information and uses his good arm to deck the doctor who caused his condition. Meanwhile, all of Jessica's findings are presented to Bob and though Ben is cleared of all charges, he cannot return to the hospital due to the fact that he lied about his drug test. Jessica feels horrible but Ben takes responsibility. Jessica then tells Ben that she loves him while Aaron and Alison want to tell Curtis the good news about his father and ring in the New Year in style.
Jack is delayed at the gym crime scene and is unable to pick up JJ as previously arranged. Julia, fearing that Jack is pushing himself further and further away from JJ tries to console her disappointed child when Holden arrives. Holden saves the day when he offers to take JJ horseback riding and later, Jack arrives just in time to see Julia hugging Holden and thanking him for being so good to JJ.
Dusty has made it to a ranger's station but is stranded by a blizzard. He is going crazy not being able to search for Lucy, especially when he learns that it may be 4-5 days before searchers can go out. Later, when Dusty learns of the avalanche he takes matters into his own hands and charges out into the snow. Meanwhile, still trapped by the avalanche, Rafi tries to talk about his future with Lucy. Though she is thinking of Dusty, Lucy is warmed by Rafi's declarations of love and hope for the two of them.
Jack goes to see JJ but finds Holden and upset Julia instead, JJ having already left for his sleepover. Holden leaves and Julia blasts Jack for not keeping his word and wonders if he's trying to avoid them. Jack tells Julia he needs her help in explaining his job to JJ and then questions Julia whether her anger stems from her inability to realize that they are over. Meanwhile, Lily finds Craig at the hospital suffering a panic attack and she opts to stay with him over having dinner with Holden. Craig unloads on her and Lily advises him to take time to reflect and change his ways. Back at the Lakeview, when Jack goes off, an obnoxious man at the bar harasses Julia until Holden comes to the rescue, fresh off his discovery that Lily is with Craig, and the two of them toast New Years together.
Will tells Hal that it was Emily behind the hauntings and Hal has trouble believing it. Paul gets Hal alone and tells him that to protect Emily is to bail out on Will. When Hal promises to Will that he'll get to the bottom of this, a discouraged Will tells his father they already have. Later, Hal goes home in search of Emily while Paul tells Will it's time to go home to Fairwinds.
Jessica gets a surprise offer for a drink from Ben and they go to Metro where they encounter Aaron and Alison. Aaron, who has already apologized to Curtis, does so with Ben and the two shake hands. Ben and Jessica take another step towards reconciliation while Alison and Aaron ring in the New Year with a kiss.
Due to the New Year's holiday, As the World Turns did not air today. This preemption was planned for and there will be no lost episodes. Regular broadcasting will resume on Monday, January 3rd, 2005, and pick up where yesterday's episode concluded.
