Twins Jessica and Liz face the ups and downs of life at Sweet Valley High.
Liz breaks up with Todd when she is nominated for homecoming queen against her wishes. To Jessica's chagrin, not only does Liz beat her out for the title, but attracts the attention of college freshman Scott Daniels. Jessica convinces Liz to accept a date only to pull a twin-switch and go in her place. As usual, she gets what she wants... but she may get more than she wanted this time.
When Sweet Valley High gets its own news station, Jessica fights for the spotlight against Elizabeth while trying to impress a new guy. She's willing to do anything; even pull a twin-switch on camera. Meanwhile, Winston, who is constantly being picked on by Bruce, tries to get his own back but seems to constantly fail.
When Jess hears that Dakota Dancer is going to paint Enid for a national exhibition, she cons her way into posing for him by convincing Enid that he wants to paint her nude. Although she wears a bikini during the posing, the unveiling reveals a portrait of her actually in the raw. She's mocked by the school until Liz and the gang set out to stop the painting from being exhibited. Meanwhile the students are upset when the principal pulls down an offending photo of himself off the graffiti wall; Liz learns to speak up for her rights.
Spiraling gossip lead the gang to believe that Bruce's uncle is a famous Hollywood director. Determined to get a part, Jessica sends a review for Macbeth (in which she plays Lady Macbeth) to Andy Patman without reading; only to accordingly get slammed by her sister for overdoing the role. She blames Liz for not getting a part, especially when she finds out that Lila (who played Witch #2) got one. Liz goes to Andy Patman to make amends, only to actually score Jess a role... in a commercial.
Jess is on the verge of flunking chemistry; unless she manages to get a good grade on an upcoming test she's bound to be kicked off the cheerleading squad. Winston manages to hack into Mr Russo's computer and discovers a love letter he's written to the secretary, he then proceeds to pass copies around the school. Jess uses this find to con Winston into telling her the password; she then takes a copy of the test and subsequently scoring an A. Unfortunately Mr Russo knows someone's stolen it and immediately suspects Jessica. To protest her innocence, she passes the blame onto Winston by using the love letter as an example. Liz sets out (again) to save the day.
When Liz's parents go away for the weekend and with Todd's house being painted, she invites him to stay over so they can spend more time together. Although they begin the weekend with good intentions they then proceed to drive each other crazy. Jessica uses this opportunity to blackmail Liz into throwing a party and using the emergency credit card for a new dress. Chaos breaks loose when an accident ruins Jess's outfit, preventing her from returning it the next day.
On Halloween the group pass on a party to hang out at school, where they intend to revive Lawrence Manson, a former student who died there exactly 25 years ago. They then proceed to get scared out of their wits... but is it all just a practical joke, or is it really Lawrence seeking revenge?
Elizabeth's long-time penpal Prince Arthur Castillio comes to Sweet Valley and he and Jess feel an instant attraction. They manage to escape his bodyguard to enjoy an afternoon of fun. Jessica immediately falls in love and is already dreaming of becoming the queen of Santa Dora - however, Lila discovers that Arthur is actually engaged, and prepares to drop this bombshell in public.
When Jess leaves Elizabeh stranded at the Moon Beach, she has no choice but to hitch a ride with Todd's motorcycle (or miss her deadline). On the way they get into an accident and while Todd is virtually unharmed, Liz is left with a coma. Guiltridden, Jess stays by her side until Liz recovers. However, she seems to have undergone a personality change, literally acting more ""Jessica"" than Jessica.
After seeing a James Bond movie, Liz tries to write a similar type of story of her own, only the females are the strong characters and vice versa. Her main character is Platinum Blonde, a superspy who sets out to investigate a suspicious case concerning video game machines.
Enid's new boyfriend Ronnie chooses her to become the new spokesperson for an anti-drug campaign... touring the country with Steven Tyler. In confidence, Enid tells Liz that she's nervous because she used to have a drug problem herself. When Jessica overhears this she tries to use this information to snag the spokesperson position for herself. When Ronnie finds out about Enid's past he drops her from the campaign... and his life.
While at the beach, Liz catches a suspicious looking photo of three men, although she manages to escape without being caught. Later on she finds out that one of them is actually an important witness who has mysteriously disappeared. She tries to go to the police but because the picture is blurred they don't believe her story. While Winston is trying to fix up the photo, Jess hooks up with a new guy Chad, not realising that he is one of the men and thinks that she is Liz. Because Jessica impersonated Liz to get a date with him in the first place, she gets a hard time getting Chad to believe that it is not her, but her identical twin who has photo.
Jessica wants to join Club X, an exclusive club which creates hijinx around the school. At first Bruce is agitated that a girl wants to join, but once she passes initiation, he tries to use her eagerness to his advantage, setting her up in front of the school principal. Meanwhile, Todd tries to earn extra money playing baseketball so he can take Liz out, but as his bank account grows, so does his ego. Liz and Winston try to deflate him by enlisting the help of a professional.
A few of the gang become interested in their teacher's Adam Buchman's poetry. When Jessica is teased for not being 'cultured' enough to appreicate poetry, she comes along to a poetry reading just to prove them wrong. Bored, she becomes interested only when she finally sees Adam, and subsequently undergoes a personality (and physical) change just to impress him. Unfortunately, her writing skills are still underdeveloped. Desperate to impress, she steals one of Liz's poems and passes it off as her own at the next poetry reading... not realising that it is actually Adam's.
Feeling left out because Liz appears to spend all her time with Todd, Jessica tells Peggy that Todd is available in the hope of breaking them up. Peggy throws herself at Todd and Liz catches them, promptly breaking up with him. Then Jessica arranges a date between Liz and Chris. When Liz rejects Chris after one date, he uses her found diary (which she accidentally dropped) to spread her secrets around school. Pretty soon all of Liz's friends are mad at her, but Jess refuses to believe that Liz could spill their secrets, and promptly goes out to set things right.
While working at a teen hotline, Enid helps Mike, a quarterback from another school, to get over his parent's divorce. She agrees to meet with him in person, but backs out at the last minute because she's afraid that she's not pretty enough for him. She asks Jessica for support only to have her steal him away. Winston's eager to show the new Japanese foreign exchange student how to be 'cool' only to find that the roles are actually reversed.
Lila's dad forces her to work at the Moon Beach cafe and subsequently she becomes attracted to the meat delivery man, Heath. However, she discovers that she must hide her true idenity from him because he appears to have a thing against rich people. Jessica is thrilled to be working for the new fashion designer Dante until she learns that she is resigned to menial tasks such as making coffee. When she designs a jacket to show Dante, he promptly steals it to use in his own show.
Jessica and Lila are at it again. The annual Pacific Freestyle Dance is coming up and the winners have a chance to appear on TV. Jessica, winner for the last two years, is aghast when her steady dance partner Franco leaves her to tour with Madonna. Especially when Lila's father has flown in a top dancer, Rico, for her. Grudgingly, she pairs with Winston only to find out that he's very good. But when Franco returns unexpectedly she promptly drops Winston. When Lila cons Franco into leaving town just before the concert, Jess steals Rico away, leaving Lila with no one but Winston to dance with. Meanwhile, Todd refuses to enter with Liz because he hates dancing, but is hurt when she never asks him and pairs with Koichi instead.
Liz, working in the local hospital as a candy striper, finds out that famous talk show host Jeremy Frakes has landed in hospital. Jessia, determined to be his new assistant, also volunteers to get to him -- although she seems to only cause trouble for him. Meanwhile, Todd becomes jealous when Winston and Liz start to spend more time together. He starts suspecting his best friend has a crush on her when Liz starts to mysteriously receive flowers and letters.
The gang are at a party for Nicholas Morrow, the new heartthrob in town, when Liz is kidnapped following her shift at the hospital. Todd is the first to sense something's wrong, and he and Jess look for her everywhere only to discover that she's been kidnapped. Winston goes to the scene of the crime to look for her, but instead is arrested, which leads everyone to believe that it may be him who's kidnapped her.
When it is discovered that Peter has escaped from prison, Liz and Jess are put under protective custody. After two weeks with no danger, Jess is sick of being watched and manages to successfully escape. Unfortunately, she runs straight into Peter, who kidnaps her thinking she is Liz. When Peter realizes that it is the wrong twin he is dealing with, he sets up a deathtrap for her to get closer to Liz.
Todd is accepted into Fairmount Academy, a school capable of training many NBA hopefuls -- in Vermont. Liz has a hard time dealing with this, and finds in harder when they can't seem to spend any of his last days together. On his last night in Sweet Valley they get into an argument, and don't speak for two weeks. Nicholas then proceeds to ask Liz out, much to Jessica's dismay. Determined to get Nicholas, Jessica is determined to reunite Liz and Todd. She arranges for Todd to return to Sweet Valley -- with disastrous results.
