With their wedding on hold and rented house sold to new owners, Sam and Alice are all at sea - moving in with Julie and Luke, along with toddler Ben and new dog Meg, until they find a place of their own.
Sam struggles to adjust to the changes - particularly as teenage daughter Sophie has moved away - and compensates by throwing himself into his work and lifeboat training. Alice finds herself missing him; even when he's at home, he is clearly not happy. This is only exacerbated by the problems between Sam's sister Janie and Alice's chef Jonathan, whose relationship appears to be in trouble. Add to this the untimely appearance of a significant ex, the advent of a new hotel (which threatens direct competition for Amethi), and a frightening accident one dark, rainy night... Alice should know by now that nothing is straightforward - but at least there's never time to get bored.