The Insider's Guide to Happiness

Tina rescues an old lottery ticket from under a stray cat at the accident intersection - and gets scratched in the process. Because she suffers from Von Willebrand's, a rare blood disease, she goes to hospital for treatment. She calls Sam, unknowingly disturbing him from a tryst with Kat. Sam lies and tells Kat that Tina is his sister, and is then angry with Tina at her 'neediness'. He leaves her at the hospital. On a whim, Tina checks the lottery ticket at a dairy - only to find that it's a first division winner. She has just won 6.3 million dollars! She gets a call from Julie (who we discover is her sister) to say that Simon died in an accident. Tina rushes to Julie's side and is taken aback by her sister's pragmatism regarding Simon's death. Julie has cremated Simon privately, then collected the ashes and divided them up into little boxes, sending one to each of his relations. Tina can't understand this. She thinks how she'd react if she lost Sam& Tina takes her ticket to the lotteries commission, and the money is hers. She splashes out on a sexy red convertible for Sam, and prepares a special dinner to celebrate the news. But before Tina can tell him about her good fortune, Sam breaks up with her. Distraught, Tina takes off in the convertible, picking up her friend Tess along the way. Tess believes she has been stood up by Matthew, and the two console each other about men. Lindy meets up with John and they flirt, then have sex in his car. But when they talk afterwards of how Lindy lost her job when their affair was discovered, Lindy realises that John sold her out to protect his pregnant wife (and weather girl) Sophie. Lindy is furious and takes off. They are so over. James is still rattled by his carwash experience, and now finds himself confused about what day it is. He thinks it's Monday, but then he sees another James entering the carwash on what was Saturday and what's going on? He passes the bank where he works, only to find it's Monday again, and he's in trouble with the boss. James fakes a friend's death as the reason for his unusual behaviour and gets sympathy from an unexpected quarter - an attractive co-worker, Olive. Matthew is disturbed to find that although he is conscious and able to move around, he can't affect the real world in any way- he can't even open the door and get out of the morgue. Eventually he escapes, but only to get stuck in a supply room. While there, Matthew hears about his own funeral tomorrow, and muses that he spent his whole life trying to make his family happy. But what about his own happiness?

Matthew escapes from the hospital and goes to his own funeral. He feels guilty about having cheated on his fiancee with Tess on his last day alive. But during his funeral Matthew discovers to his horror that his father is having a affair, and that his fiancee wasn't sure that she wanted to marry him anyway. Worse, his family all remember versions of Matthew that are not really true, and Matthew begins to question whether his family really knew him at all. He decides that everything he believed in was based on a lie, and that the only true thing in his life was the way he felt about Tess. When he discovers that James, a stranger in a pub, can actually see and hear and touch him, he is amazed. Despite James's wariness, Matthew convinces him to deliver a message to Tess, thanking her for 'changing his life'. Tina, grieving for the break-up of her relationship with Sam, withdraws her 6.3 million dollars from the bank and plans to give it away, believing that if she does so the universe will 'provide her heart's desire'. But instead, Julie convinces Tina to accompany her to Matthew's funeral, as Julie feels she needs to grieve. The sisters go together, and Julie breaks down, finally telling Tina the news that she is pregnant. Tina is supportive, but later has her own collapse when she sees Sam shopping with his new girlfriend, Kat. In response, Tina takes a million dollars to the casino and bets it all on the spin of the roulette wheel... and loses. But she does gain the attention of some rich party girls and a lounge lizard, Corin. Meanwhile Julie has a visit from Simon's cousin, Tim, who announces that he's come to stay with her through this sad time. Lindy pulls strings to get herself a job at last, but the best she can manage is assistant in a run-down second-hand bookstore. She is unimpressed by the business as well as its wheelchair-bound owner, Nathan. James goes with Olive to Wuming Quan, an Asian martial arts class. He surprises not only the others but himself when he seems to be an instant expert at Wuming Quan. Olive is impressed, which is good, but secretly James is getting disturbed by the surreal happenings in his life.

Lindy hates her new job and she despises Nathan, the bookshop's paraplegic owner. When she accuses him of being a loser and 'giving up' on life, he fires her. Now she has no job. Back to the wall, she convinces Alan, her TV producer to give her a shot at her own show - problem: she has to pay for the pilot. In desperation, Lindy goes to the only person she knows who might lend her the money - her old boyfriend, William. But William is angry that she has turned up only for money, and rejects her. Lindy hits rock bottom and faces her old demon, alcohol. She takes a full glass of whiskey to Nathan at the bookshop and asks him for help. Nathan and Lindy share their deepest fears, and Lindy stumbles upon a great idea for a TV show. She books the studio, puts on the show and uses Nathan as her first guest. It's a success - Lindy is back! William's worst fear comes true when he is moved from Accident and Emergency to the Oncology department. He can't bear dealing with terminal illness every day. The move coincides with a visit from his ex-girlfriend, Lindy and the arrival of his oldest friend, Phil, who tries to shake him out of his depression. What William doesn't know yet, is that Phil is suffering from cancer himself. Tina is still grieving for Sam, and tries to block out the pain by snorting coke and partying with Corin. But the downward spiral leads to recklessness, and she loses her part-time job nannying two well-to-do children. Miserable, Tina resorts to more drugs, and more Corin. Tess visits Matthew's home and meets Rico. He gives her a photo of Matthew to keep, and she treasures it. Tim has made himself at home at Julie's and surprisingly, Julie is okay with that. He's so attentive to her needs, that Julie gathers her courage and asks him if he will sleep in her bed with her - just sleep - she needs the company. He does.

James tries to deny the surreal things that are happening to him, but becomes increasingly distressed as the monks assert that he is the reincarnation of Yu Ku'an Wu. When he time-slips again, he decides to fight whatever's happening by going to a rugby game and changing what he saw would happen in the future. But in fact his very actions in trying to change things make the prophecy come true. James gives in, and accepts the monks' explanation - the boy from Wanganui is the reincarnation of Yu Ku'an Wu. On William's day off, he agrees to do anything Phil wants. Phil's wishes include delivering a baby and flying a plane, during which he pretends the plane is about to crash. When William panics at the thought of dying, Phil tells him that he has terminal cancer. Then he challenges William to name any regrets in his life. William confesses he wishes he and Lindy hadn't broken up. Phil, triumphant, points out how death focuses the mind, then rights the plane. The next morning William discovers Phil in a coma. Sam is upset when Kat tells him that she sees other guys, and can't offer him the commitment he clearly wants. Sam denies he needs commitment, but eventually has to face the truth. Kat dumps him, although she still wants to be friends. Tina and Julie's mother Annette turns up, and hits on Tina's boyfriend Corin, leading to an argument and their break-up, and it becomes obvious why Julie won't have anything to do with her mother. Tina hits the town, takes too many drugs and collapses in a nightclub, right under the DJ - Sam's - nose. Tess accepts a date with a client called Steve, much to Matthew's distress. But on the date she has to admit to Steve that she's still attached to 'someone else'. Matthew is pleased.