Keith opens the barn door to see Lily kissing Holden, after she tells him that she loves him. When Holden leaves, Keith tells him that he should be paying attention to Luke instead of Lily, and Holden rushes to the Snyder farm to find Luke. After Holden leaves, Keith plays on Lily's fear of divine retribution, warning her that something might happen to Luke's kidney if Lily reneges on her promise to Keith. Lily and Keith find Luke (who has covered up his drinking with breath mints) and Holden at the farm, and Lily disappoints both of them by leaving with Keith.
When Maddie visits Mike in his hospital room, she finds him dressing to leave, because he is so convinced that Katie is in danger from B.J. In order to keep Mike in bed, Maddie promises to go to WOAK to check on Katie. When Maddie arrives, she sees that B.J. has set up an elaborate plan to have Katie wear a special dress and pull a lever on a machine during the telethon. After warning Katie that she is in danger, Maddie returns to Mike and lies to him that Katie is not in danger.
Carly finds Jack looking at want-ads at the coffee shop, and he confesses that he is no longer employed by the FBI to watch B.J. Jack leaves to ask Kim to let him help with the telethon so that he can keep watch on B.J. on his own. Kim knows that B.J. would be suspicious of Kim's hiring Jack, so she suggests that Jack sign up for the talent show on his own.
Gwen tells Will that she wants the two of them to try to have another baby right away. She is hurt when Will suggests that they try to get an education before starting a family, so Will agrees to try to have another baby right away (in spite of the fact that they are still in high school).
At the Snyder farm, Dusty finds Meg's plane ticket that proves that Meg was in Tampa at the same time Dusty was there with Jennifer. In spite of Meg's touching gift of a picture of the two of them as teenagers, Dusty is hurt and suspicious. He takes the plane ticket and puts it in his pocket.
Emily and Cass show up at the station house with a court order for his release and Hal is livid. Emily and Paul embrace, and she tells Paul she wants them to get married, today. Later, Emily stops by the hospital to inform Susan of her upcoming nuptials. An upset Susan calls Hal over and pleads with him to stop Emily from making a huge mistake. At the WOAK telethon, BJ has planted a bomb that will go off when the red temperature indicator goes over the top. An oblivious Katie emcees the event, where Tom and Lisa sing a duet and Barbara does a solo. BJ slips off to the wine cellar where he torments Henry, telling him that Katie will get what's coming to her while Olga takes care of Henry, permanently. Desperate, Henry seduces Olga into one more tryst and while they claw at each other's clothes, Henry gets the handcuffs and slaps them on Olga. Henry then flees Fairwinds in Olga's clothes and sets off to rescue Katie. Meanwhile, despite Maddie's attempts to keep him away, Mike is stunned to see Katie and BJ together at the telethon. He flips out and flees the hospital. Meanwhile, Jack admits to Carly that though he's singing in the telethon at Kim's behest, his real concern is BJ. Carly wants to go along and hear Jack sing but Jack warns her of the dangers. Carly suspects the real reason is that Jack is too embarrassed to want her there and promises not to show up. Later, Carly calls Kim and asks her if she can volunteer to answer phones. On her way, Carly gets a flat tire and a mysterious motorcycle driver stops to help her fix it. Carly takes an immediate dislike to him when he tries to flirt with her but later, he oddly appears at WOAK. Also at WOAK, Katie and Jack are surprised to see each other. As they argue over whether BJ poses a real threat, the man himself arrives back from Fairwinds and Jack quickly catches on that something is going on. When Mike shows up, he and Jack both start to snoop around, but Jack is called on-stage by Katie to sing his song. Afterwards, he and Mike find the bomb, just as BJ presents Katie with the final check that will push the red indicator over the top! Jack tells Mike he has to stop Katie from pulling the lever but it's then that BJ pulls a gun on them.
Hal goes to Emily once more to try to talk her out of marrying. When he can't change her mind, he begins to lose control, scaring Emily into thinking he will do something drastic to wreck their ceremony and she immediately changes the venue. Meanwhile, Paul has a run in with Jennifer. He begs her forgiveness but she blasts him again. When he asks what can he do for her she answers that he can start thinking of someone other than himself. While Jennifer's words weighing heavily on Paul, Emily heads out in her wedding dress as Hal waits at the church. Meg notices Dusty's quiet mood but he covers. Later, however, he gets hold of her palm pilot and gets another clue that Meg is keeping something from him. He retraces her steps which leads him to Eli, the man who works in the genetics lab at the hospital. Upon talking to Eli, Dusty finally discovers the truth that Meg knew Jennifer's baby was still alive months before she did anything about it. Unaware of the danger, Katie pulls the lever and the bomb begins ticking down. Jack distracts BJ and takes a bullet in the shoulder so Mike can grab Katie out of harm's way. Nick, Carly's mysterious motorcycle driver, sees the bomb, grabs it and tears out. After a deafening explosion, Nick returns unharmed. Carly then shows up, has a happy reunion with Jack and she applauds him for having the foresight to see there was trouble. But, to their dismay, Nick is the one who's getting all the credit and Jack is shocked to find out that Nick is the cop Hal hired to take Jack's place on the force. Later, Mike introduces Katie to the mystery man as his cousin, Nick! Meanwhile, after escaping from Olga and donning her clothing, Henry arrives at WOAK, just as BJ is trying to make a run for it. BJ knocks Henry out with his briefcase, leaves it behind and takes off as the police launch a massive manhunt for him. Maddie then finds Henry and they have a wildly happy reunion. Henry discovers the briefcase is crammed with cash but he keeps it to himself.
On the bluff, Paul drops the bomb on Emily that they're not getting married. Paul claims he wants to do what is best for her but Emily is having none of it. She accuses him of still being in love with Rosanna. He doesn't deny and Emily goes ballistic, saying she sacrificed everything, even her child, for him. Paul says he's sorry, and turns to walk away, and Emily, blinded by her rage, pulls a gun out of her purse and shoots him! Meanwhile, Susan reveals to Hal that Emily and Paul went off to a secret location to get married. Dusty gives Meg one more chance to come clean but when she sticks to her lie, a disappointed Dusty confronts her with her Tampa plane ticket and demands the truth. A near-hysterical Meg is forced to admit everything. Dusty realizes that Meg was in cahoots with Paul for a long time and orders her to get out! Henry and Katie are reunited and Henry reveals BJ's sinister plot. When he learns Mike saved Maddie's life by jumping in front of Olga's car and of Katie's ruse to get close to BJ, Katie, Mike and Henry decide to put all past troubles behind them. After, Henry privately reveals to Maddie the money inside the briefcase BJ left behind. Appalled, Maddie says that they have to turn it in, but Henry insists BJ owes it to them after all he put them through. Back at the hospital, Mike is not happy that he has to stay while BJ is still on the loose. He gets Nick to stay at the cottage with Katie, for protection. After Mike and Katie share a Happy New Year kiss, Mike has to watch as Katie heads home, with Nick. On the rooftop, Will convinces Gwen that this is going to be their year. They discuss leaving their screwed up families behind and starting their own family and Gwen wonders if she might already be pregnant. They end up making love on the rooftop. Will and Gwen kiss as fireworks light up the sky, and toast to the two of them against the world.
Due to a premature celebration of New Year's, today's episode of As the World Turns was pre-empted for CBS Sports coverage of college football. Today's programming change was planned for, so there will be no lost episodes.
Additionally, the show will also be pre-empted on Monday, January 2nd.
Regular programming will resume on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2006 and will pick up where Thursday, December 29th's episode concluded.
