JANUARY - JUNE
Ruth's involvement with Jack successfully destroyed Jack's marriage to Betty Jean. Before Mike could get to Kutka, Big Frank found him first and strangled him to death. Jack realized that Ruth set him up in order to blackmail him into stealing the Appleman motor designs. Jack went to confront Ruth, but Big Frank scaled the apartment wall, climbed in through a window, and strangled Ruth before she could confess. Jack was discovered with Ruth's body and charged with her murder. Mike defended Jack in the subsequent trial and attempted to expose Mr. Moore and Frank. With the jury about to deliver a guilty verdict, Mike obtained the proof he needed to clear Jack. Big Frank fled Monticello on board an airplane, with Mike in hot pursuit. Airborne, Mike and Frank struggled, and Frank fell to his death from the plane. After receiving his freedom, Jack enjoyed a touching reunion with Betty Jean and Bud. Winston forgave Jack's dishonesty and promised to help him make a fresh start.

Judith Marceau, daughter of newly elected chief of police Bill Marceau, was romanced by the apparently wealthy, cultured Victor Carlsen, son of a socially prominent family. Unknown to Judy, Victor used their closeness to keep tabs on the police, who were closing in on an illegal numbers racket run by Victor and his brother Jennings. George Vetter, owner of the Vetter Insurance Company, cursed the day he became involved with the Carlsen brothers, who forced him to use his business as a front for the numbers racket. Realizing that the Carlsens were responsible for the murder of Goldie Golden, George decided to eliminate them in a warehouse owned by ex-con Manny Smith. However, the plan went awry when George's frosty wife Teresa tipped them off.

JULY - DECEMBER
With Jack and Betty Jean happily reconciled, Winston and Mattie finally married and left Monticello for an extended honeymoon. Meanwhile, Jack received a lucrative job offer from a firm in Texas. Despite initial opposition, Betty Jean realized that Jack had finally grown from an irresponsible boy into a self-sufficient man and agreed to go. Jack accepted the job and moved his family away to a new life.

When the Carlsens attempted to set up George Vetter in the warehouse, Manny was arrested instead, and as an ex-con, his parole was revoked. Manny's wife Sally begged Bill Marceau to help her prove to new district attorney Austin Johnson that her husband was innocent, but Johnson refused to believe either one.

Teresa Vetter, secretly having an affair with Victor Carlsen, gave her husband George an overdose of painkillers and arranged the crime to appear like an accident. With George out of the way, Teresa was unhappy that Victor kept her at bay while continuing to romance Judy Marceau.

Bill and Mike worked to free Manny Smith from jail, while closing in on the numbers racket. Jennings was killed in a shootout with police, conveniently allowing Victor to place all blame for criminal activity on his brother. Teresa realized that Victor and Jennings had hidden all the money from