Hanna Marin

**Hanna Marin**is one of the main characters in the Pretty Little Liars television series. She is portrayed by Ashley Benson.

## Biography

Hanna used to be overweight prior to Alison's disappearance. Despite being the sweetest of the bunch, she was constantly made fun of by Alison for being overweight, calling her "Hefty Hanna." After Alison went missing, Hanna befriended Mona and lost weight and became popular over the summer. The newly minted queen bee, Hanna, wins Homecoming Queen but is constantly reminded by "A" of her dorky days as "Hefty Hanna."

Even though Hanna is one of the most popular and prettiest girls at school, she is generous and kind. She is the boldest and the most outspoken of the four girls often making snarky comments, not afraid to say what she really thinks of a person. However, she is very gullible and ends up trusting people easily.

Hanna is witty and sassy but also innocent, caring and thoughtful. She does everything to keep her loved ones safe from "A." She is protective of her friends and shows her fierce side when defending them. Hanna's sarcasm and sense of humour often makes her come across as ditsy however, she is actually quite smart and bright. Her strong instinct has often led her to find many clues about "A" and she also scored well on her SATs. Hanna tends to get in trouble owing to her impulsive and rebellious nature. After Spencer, Hanna is the one who has shown most effort, strength and dedication to find out who "A" is.

## Physical Appearance

Hanna has a beautiful heart shaped face complimented with piercing baby blue eyes, full lips and dimpled smile. She has a curvaceous frame with slim, shapely legs. Her golden blonde hair was long; she cut it short before the start of senior year in Season 3. Her skin is light with a milk and rose complexion which sums up her innocent and playful personality. In Season 5, Hanna again cuts her hair short with black highlights.

Prior to the "Pilot," Hanna was a larger form of herself, and because of her increased weight gained the nickname "Hefty Hanna" from Alison DiLaurentis.

## Season 1

The series begins with footage of the night Alison DiLaurentis disappeared, Alison, Aria Montgomery, Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin and Emily Fields were having a sleepover in Spencer's barn. Alison had scared them by sneaking up on the other girls in the barn's doorway. They had laughed and joked about it and sipped drinks with Alison. Later, Aria had woken up, followed by Hanna and Emily, to find Ali and Spencer missing. Spencer had returned to let the other girls know that Ali was missing and that she thought she heard a scream.

One year later, at the local mall, Hanna and her friend Mona Vanderwaal are shopping. Hanna bumps into Spencer and takes the opportunity to catch up with her. She then shoplifts a pair of super expensive sunglasses, while Mona shoplifts a scarf. Just then, a security guard follows Hanna out of the store, but to hand her her bag, which she forgot inside. Hanna smiles mock innocently, and her and Mona leave, scared, but relieved.

At school, the formerly chubby, gawky Hanna, has become the new Queen Bee, alongside formerly nerdy sidekick Mona, who has had a glam makeover of her own. In English class, Hanna picks up on the weirdness between Mr. Fitz and Aria.

That night, the police show up at Hanna Marin's doorstep, busting her for shoplifting the expensive sunglasses from the local mall. They caught her using the security tapes. At the precinct, she almost munches on candy corn to calm her nerves until "A" sends a mocking text, alluding to her overweight days. At this point, all four girls have been messaged by "A." The man on the case, Detective Wilden, has his sights more set on her newly single mother, Ashley Marin. Hanna is waiting in the station when Ashley prompts Hanna to get up and leave. Outside the station, dozens of cop cars are seen rushing somewhere with their sirens on.

In the car, Ashley scolds Hanna for her mistake, reminding her daughter that Rosewood is unforgiving of damaged reputations. She gleans from Hanna that she did it to get her father's attention, not because she couldn't obtain the merchandise on her own. Ashley lets Hanna know that she will take care of the situation and tells Hanna to admit nothing.

Later that night, Hanna stands in a crowd surrounding Alison DiLaurentis' old house with Spencer and Aria and they look on as a body bag rolls past on a stretcher.

Back at home, Hanna sits on the couch eating ice cream, eyes glued to the television set, as the news report of Ali's resurface unfolds. Apparently, her body was found under the gazebo in the backyard, which had been under construction the summer before when Ali had gone missing. Suddenly, Ashley loudly enters the house, with Darren. The two kiss animalistically. She then climbs the stairs with him, leading him to her bedroom, turning to exchange eye glances with Hanna, who watches guiltily frozen on the couch.

At the funeral, Hanna sits in the front pew with Spencer, Emily and Aria, the four friends reunited under such grim circumstances. Hanna sips from a flask and Aria receives a text message. The other three tense up waiting to hear who the text if from and they all realise the mysterious "A" has been contacting all four of them. Spencer turns and gasps when she spots Jenna Marshall being escorted down the aisle. No one expected Jenna to come to Ali's funeral.

After the service, Darren Wilden introduces himself to the girls, though Hanna needs no introduction. He tells them that he will be reviewing their statements and watching them during this murder investigation. All four girls get a text that "A" will also be watching.
The Pretty Little Liars sit at the Apple Rose Grille, that night, discussing the new messages from "A" that they are receiving as well as Alison's disappearance. They also discuss their fears that "The Jenna Thing" will be revealed, but Spencer believes that no one knows the truth about their carefully guarded secret. Hanna pours some liquid from her hip flask into her beverage to her friends' disapproval. Spencer reveals that Ali had confided in her that she had been dating someone that summer, an older boy who had a girlfriend, but Ali never told her who. Just then, the girls cringe as they hear a tapping sound, instinctively knowing that blind Jenna Marshall has entered with her walking stick. They silently get up and leave.

The next morning, Ashley and Hanna get ready for their day in the kitchen. Suddenly, Detective Wilden's face appears on the news cast discussing the finding of Alison DiLaurentis' body. Ashley promptly shuts it off and asks Hanna if she's up to attending school that day. Hanna nods, and Ashley tells her not to let the news reports get into her head. Hanna apologises for the cop, but Ashley reassures her daughter that she won't see him again.

At school, an announcement is made over the loudspeaker, calling Emily, Aria, Spencer and Hanna to the principal's office. The girls are slightly panicked, and a mocking text from "A" doesn't help their nerves any. At the office, Darren Wilden interrogates the girls about Alison's disappearance, reviewing their stories with great skepticism that he makes sure to show. The girls answer unanimously, but he is sure that they are lying all the same, claiming that their story sounds rehearsed.

At lunch, the girls fret that their lies will get them in trouble. They try to rationalise that the secret they are hiding is unconnected to Ali's murder, but at the same time, their secret reveals that Ali had enemies, people who could have potentially wanted to hurt her. Almost on cue, Jenna walks into the lunch room, the tapping sound of her walking cane unmistakable. Aria invites Jenna to sit with the girls in the cafeteria, and so, the five of them share the most awkward lunch ever, as Jenna notes the dead silence on the part of the girls and the fact that Alison is no longer with them. They all flashback to the accident that blinded Jenna.

In the flashback, it is revealed that one night when the girls were trying on clothes, Ali claimed she spotted Toby Cavanaugh spying on them. So, Ali hatched a plan to drop a stink bomb in his garage for teaching him a lesson, though the others were reluctant. Ali had then ordered Spencer to pass the lighter and ignited the stink bomb, opening the door of the garage, and tossing it inside. But the prank went terribly wrong as the garage caught on fire, and Ali saw too late that someone, Jenna, was inside. As a result, Jenna was permanently blinded from the accident, and Ali made sure that Toby falsely took the blame for it.

While at lunch, the girls' phones go off, and of course it is from "A" letting them know she/he is privy to their guilt.

While Sean Ackard is over at Hanna's, the two sit down to study, but Hanna has other things on her mind. She refills Sean's drink and starts kissing his neck, but he resists her moves as much as possible. Frustrated, she sits down and asks him if he likes her as more than a friend. He replies in the affirmative and kisses her on the lips. Basically, Hanna has come to an impasse with Sean on when to lose their virginity, because of his religious beliefs. Just then, Ashley walks through the door, chatting with Sean, who she clearly approves of. Then, Darren enters with takeout for dinner; Hanna is totally annoyed, and Sean is asked to leave.

The next day, Mona and Hanna are walking out of the mall, flanked with plenty of shopping bags. The two girls are happily chatting about the day's finds when suddenly they catch sight of Darren, standing in the parking lot. Mona reassures her friend that he has nothing on her, as she purchased everything legally. Hanna agrees and walks over to Darren to tell him to back off; she will pay off her debt for the sunglasses if he will only leave her mother alone. But Darren is following Hanna for reasons other than her shoplifting; he admits that he is stalking her because he believes that she is hiding who killed Alison DiLaurentis. Hanna is speechless and resentful.
The girls decide to erect the memorial in the woods, near The Kissing Rock, where they used to hang out with Ali. When Emily and Spencer bring up Darren Wilden, that creepy detective, Hanna goes silent, clearly upset. The girls don't pick up on that though, but they think Hanna is crazy when she mentions that she thinks Ali is still alive. Just then they hear someone in the forest and a few seconds later, all four phones buzz with a new text from "A" telling them she's hunting them.

The next day, at the Marins', Hanna is sickened to find Detective Wilden opening her fridge shirtless, with only a towel wrapped around his waist. Ashley comes downstairs, offers to make breakfast, and sends Darren upstairs to put clothes on. Hanna is upset that her mother is pandering to Darren, when they don't even eat breakfast, but Ashley points out that the police have not dropped the charges yet, so she can't kick Darren out yet. Frustrated, Hanna leaves.

At school, Mona and Hanna discuss their recent shoplifts, when Sean and Noel Kahn walk over. They announce Noel's blowout cabin party planned for the next night. After they leave, Mona questions Hanna about when she is going to have sex with Sean, and Hanna reacts frustrated. Jenna walks by with her brother Toby, and his reappearance at Rosewood High comes after a mysterious, yearlong absence which leaves the girls to wonder whether he had anything to do with Alison's disappearance, or if he is in fact the omnipresent "A." Then, Detective Wilden appears to talk to Hanna. She tries to protest that she has class, but he has already taken care of that.

In the office, Darren brings up Hanna's ugly duckling past and the fact that Hanna started to dress more like Alison. Hanna argues that Alison helped her make those changes, but Darren is trying to portray her as the jealous fat girl who bumped off Alison to get ahead. Hanna flashbacks to the time in her chubby days when she asked Sean out to a party; he had accepted after pressure from Alison. Darren says he needs information about the past, so Hanna brings up his party boy drinking past as a comeback. She then accuses Darren of getting his information from her living room while he was half-naked and walks out.

At Noel's party, Sean is playing foosball with his friends. Hanna is totally annoyed by how much she feels Sean is ignoring her. So, she takes Sean to a private cabin room, where she starts passionately kissing him. Hanna starts rummaging through her purse for a condom, but when Sean catches sight of it, he gets up, and the two start arguing. Sean says he doesn't want to have sex with her and calls Hanna desperate to prove something. Hanna is totally hurt and turns away. Sean tries to comfort her by giving her his jacket, but she snaps at him, not wanting him to see her tears. He leaves, and she falls to the floor crying.

Sean resumes his place at the foosball table, and Hanna gets a text from "A" mocking her for being a loser that can't score a guy. The anger and embarrassment builds to a crescendo, and Hanna grabs Sean's keys and heads for his car. Mona sees her friend angrily mrching across the lawn and getting into Sean's car; she tries to stop her, but Hanna doesn't even turn her head. She speeds off with Sean's black sports car. She later climbs out of the crashed car, which won't stop beeping.

The next day, the girls reconvene in the woods to memorialise Alison in the shed they used to play in. Spencer lets the other girls know that Alison had something on Toby, besides him being a supposed Peeping Tom. The other girls are surprised to find this information out from her so much after the fact. The girls change their minds and decide to pick a more public place for the memorial. They hear something with them in the forest, again, and this time they all run as soon as they hear it. The person gets away, but they do find the same friendship bracelet Alison was wearing the night she disappeared, perhaps planted by whoever was in the forest with them.
Hanna gets lectured by her mother who says she never wants to see another cop car in front of the house again. Going along with their new plan, the girls map out the details of Alison's new memorial park bench. Spencer then comes up with the idea of "A-proofing." She blocks all messages from people she doesn't know and does the same with the other girls' laptops and cellphones. The girls also appreciate the view when Mr. Fitz rides by on his bicycle, wearing shorts. Just then, a crunched up missing Alison flier blows towards them with a celebratory remark about her death.

At school, Hanna's father calls, telling her that he is coming to Rosewood. She suspects that it is because he's heard of her crashing Sean's car, but doesn't have the guts to ask him directly.

In Spencer's room, Hanna tries on outfits for dinner with her father that night. Spencer reveals the trouble she is in with Melissa's stolen essay. Hanna also asks if Spencer peekd to see if she got any "A" messages, but Spencer has not, and neither has Hanna.

Later that evening, Tom shows up at Hanna's house to take her out to dinner. Ashley was under the impression that she was invited to dinner as well and clearly dressed for the occasion. She tries to hide her disappointment/hurt when he breaks the news that he intended to take only Hanna. Outside, Tom makes a comment about his car being new and therefore he should drive, and Hanna freezes, realising that he is only there to see her because of the incident with Sean's car. He agrees, but asks to her to indulge him all the same, and after a pause, she goes along with him.

The next day, Hanna happily retells the details of the past night to the other Pretty Little Liars, how she had spent quality time with her father, and he had listened. She has another dinner date set with her father that night, and Hanna talks about visiting Maryland more to see him. The bell rings, and Ezra begins his English class. Hanna seems to pick up on the awkward tension when Mr. Fitz accuses a student of not understanding the book while vehemently defending Aria's interpretation.

That night, Tom brings more than Hanna bargained for to dinner. He starts off the evening having a conversation with his daughter about how she is doing, but then interrupts it to beckon two people over to them: a new fiance with a daughter Hanna's age, to boot. Tom kisses both women, and Hanna is flabbergasted, though polite.

During dinner, Kate is telling a story about her sailing; Hanna smiles politely. Isabel suggests that Kate could teach Hanna how to sail, and Hanna makes a joke that nobody gets. Tom awkwardly uses that moment to embarrass Hanna and bring up Sean's car and the deal he's made with Mrs. Ackard, which is to have Hanna work in her dental office in order to pay off the damages. Hanna then gets an SOS text from Spencer.

Spencer walks Wren to his motel room, and before she leaves, the two kiss with Hanna watching in the car. He invites her in, but she doesn't take it that far. Suddenly, "A" dedicates a radio song, "I Don't Need You Anymore," to Hanna on the channel that Hanna happens to be listening to. Hanna is freaked out.

Hanna and Spencer return to Spencer's home and find a message scrawled in lipstick on her vanity: "It won't be that easy bitches." Spencer sends an SOS to Emily and Aria, and the girls survey the vanity together. The Alison bracelet has not been touched, and the broken flower pot downstairs has creepily been arranged to look like a tombstone.

Still reeling from the haunting message scrawled across Spencer's vanity, the next morning the girls discover an additional, even spookier message from "A", this one in the form of a video of the girls the previous night that was clearly recording them from inside Spencer's closet. It is sent in a text to Hanna as an attachment. The girls reveal that they have unblocked their phones. They then go upstairs and open the closet to find the lipstick that was used to write the message on the vanity, Aria thinks it is the same shade of red that Jenna wears.

As a penance for crashing Sean's car, Hanna is forced to take a filing job in his mum's dental office working with kids. On her way from work with his shopping bag containing her uniform sneakers, she bumps into Sean. Sean lets Hanna know that he tried to take the blame for the car, but Hanna owns up to it herself. She brings up going with him to homecoming, and he says he'll think about it. Just then, a blonde cheerleader picks up Sean to drive him to school.

While on her eay to work at Dr. Ackard's office, Hanna spots Jenna in the building's elevator. She applies that same shade of red lipstick, leaning into the mirror as she applies a fresh coat. Hanna follows her to her floor and she has been seeing a psychiatrist in the same building as Dr. Ackard's practice.

Later, jealous of Sean's new interest in this cheerleader, checks out her social networking page. Her name is Amber, and Hanna totally resents her. Ashley reassures her daughter that Sean isn't necessarily dating this girl, just because she has been driving him to school. Hanna also fills Ashley in on the fact that Tom is engaged, and she is somewhat taken aback. Just then, "A" sends a shocked Hanna an attached file of Maya and Emily kissing in an email.

Spencer and Hanna sit at the Grille, discussing about the lipstick. Just then, Emily walks by, and they fill her in. Later, the waitress hands Emily the mixed CD, leaving Hanna to believe Maya made it for her and encourages Emily not to be bullied by pursuing a non-conventional relationship.

Ashley discusses relationships with Hanna at home. After bumping into Sean on her way to his mother's office, Hanna finds out that Amber is not Sean's love interest; she is a fellow member to "Real Love Waits," the virginity club at school. Sean expresses to her that he never meant to let her down; he's just serious about his abstinence pledge. So, Hanna decides to keep close tabs on Sean by joining his abstinence club in order to spend time with him.

Hanna, Spencer and Emily arrive at Aria's to console her with Chinese takeout and rag mags, thinking she's sullen from her parents' marriage troubles. While discussing their plans for homecoming dance, the girls open their fortune cookies to find another prank from "A" notes cluing them into the fact that he or she will be attending homecoming as well.

At school, Hanna attends a "Real Love Waits" meeting to keep an eye on Sean and his new friend Amber. There, Hanna finds an unlikely friend in Lucas Gottesman. The members are asked to role play situations in which they would be pressured to have sex. Sean and Amber pair off, with Sean convincingly acting the part of the instigator who wants to go all the way with Amber, and Amber refuses accordingly. Hanna is called to take a turn, with Lucas. Unenthusiastic, she pretends to ask Lucas upstairs to her room, and after initially refusing to play along, he then says yes, making Hanna finally smile and Sean see red.

At lunch, Spencer urges Hanna to try and steal Jenna's file from the psychiatrist's office that's in the same building as where she works, certain that it contains the key to the identity of "A" or at the very least what the Cavanaughs are hiding. They then catch sight of Toby, who temporarily picks up his shirt long enough for the girls to spot a tattoo that says "901 Free At Last," presumably memorialising the date Alison disappeared, but they haven't put this together yet. Then, Hanna makes a false move in nudging Maya to attend homecoming and makes a comment that Emily wants her to come.

After school, Hanna goes to Mrs. Ackard's office building to try and sneak into the psychologist's office, but there are workers doing construction there. So, she rigs the door so that they can get back in later over the weekend. Hanna visits Aria's house later to get ready for homecoming. She comforts Aria about her family situation and unsuccessfully tries to get her to admit who she's crushing on. Hanna assumes it is a boy in Iceland and insists she move on.

At the dance, Hanna and Spencer joke with Aria that they will share their dates with her. Mona and Hanna get into a heated argument when Mona makes nasty comments to Lucas, who has come to photograph the dance for the yearbook. Hanna greets him warmly, but Mona shoos him away. After he leaves, the two argue over whether popularity is more important than befriending nerds.

Then Toby and Emily arrive at the door, shocking the other PLLs. Emily is particularly surprised by Hanna's reaction, as she had seemed so supportive of Emily following her heart. Hanna then confesses that she had thought Emily was referring to Maya, but before they can continue their conversation, Toby appears.

The girls try to enjoy by dancing with their dates, but then Spencer calls them to convene, convincing Hanna to go steal the file. She commissions Aria to keep Sean occupied on the dance floor while Hanna slips out to his mother's office building. Outside, Hanna sees Lucas leaving early as well, so she gets him to give her a ride to the office; he confesses that he had come to the dance in order to take photographs and also to cast his vote for her as Homecoming Queen.

Hanna is the Homecoming Queen, but she misses being crowned. So, Sean is photographed standing alone. She did manage to find the file, though. Hanna returns to school with the file and she, Spencer and Aria read it. They realise what information Alison blackmailed Toby with the night of "The Jenna Thing," Toby's sexual relationship with his step-sister. Assuming that this was Toby's motive for murder, they send Emily a text message warning her that Toby killed Alison, then set out to find her.

They shout Emily's name while searching the hallways. Eventually they find her cell phone in the chemistry lab, along with an upturned lab table, broken beakers and blood on the floor. They fear the worst.

The next day, Hanna joins Emily in her room, while Spencer and Aria try to convince Emily to come forward to the police. Hanna whips out Toby's psychological profile from her pocket; she had tried to return it, but when she arrived at the office, she saw cops looking for that very piece of evidence.

While Hanna and Emily are alone, Emily finds out from Hanna why she had thought Maya would have been her date to the dance. Hanna confesses that she saw the picture of them kissing and finds out in turn from Emily why she went with Toby and not Maya. Emily admits that she's afraid of everything changing.

Hanna finds herself increasingly attracted to the geeky, different Lucas, who takes photos of the discordant Sean and Hanna as a belated homecoming royalty shot for the yearbook. Lucas takes several shots of the two, annoying Sean with his suggestions, such as to have Hanna pose sitting on his lap. Sean smiles through gritted teeth, and the shoot ends in a bitter argument between Hanna and Sean.

The girls, without Emily, head toward the shed to hide Toby's file that Hanna stole, but in a panic, Aria decides to throw it in the river instead, moments before Emily finally gets through to their cell phones pleading with them not to destroy it. All the while the girls bicker, panicked, and in the process Hanna complains that only she gets caught for her mistakes; unlike Spencer, who got away with stealing Melissa's essay, Hanna had to pay bitterly for shoplifting.

Later, Lucas and Hanna bond over funny internet videos. Lucas confesses how intimidated he use to be by Hanna when she was still a part of Alison's group. He reveals how much it had hurt that Alison called him "hermy, the hermaphrodite," and Hanna shares how Alison had called her "Hefty Hanna." Lucas can't understand how Hanna had been her friend.

The girls all gather in Emily's room and Emily tells them she saw Toby's motorcycle all smashed up and Jenna in tears on her porch. While processing this news with her friends, she receives a text from "A": "Thanks for getting Toby out of my way." They thought they were done with "A," but apparently not.

Aria, Spencer, Emily and Hanna begin to prepare for Alison's memorial. The memorial sparks memories of a summer day that the girls had spent lounging by the shore of the lake. Ironically, the girls had spoken about immortality and the fantasy of living in this moment forever. Alison had said that one could attain that only by dying young and leaving behind a beautiful corpse. Getting into it, Alison had romanticised how fabulous it would be to die in a mysterious way.

At home, the Marins' financial woes grow deeper, evidenced by one of Hanna's credit cards being declined. Ashley lets Hanna know that adjustments need to be made until their situation improves. Hanna steps up and decides to help out in a rather unorthodox and un-Hanna way: she agrees to put up a lot of her old clothes and handbags up for auction online, at the suggestion of her new ally Lucas.

They must contend with Alison's older brother arriving in Rosewood a changed man, the formerly gawky and Gothic outsider is now as polished as a preppy politician, and he's got plenty of plans for the memorial of his own. Jason surprises the girls with news that Jenna has asked to speak at Alison's memorial, and he's agreed to let her much to their dismay.

At school, Hanna and Sean have made up, though Sean is still wary of her hanging out with Lucas, even if it is for yearbook. Hanna lets Aria know that Sean's friend, Noel, wants to ask her out and tries to convince her to double date after school. Though reluctant at first, Aria eventually accepts.

Officer Wilden returns, visiting Hanna while she works on yearbook. He tries to intimidate her into revealing Toby's whereabouts, which he suspects she might know being Emily's friend. The possibility is far-fetched, and it is revealed that Officer Wilden is desperate to make progress in Alison's murder investigation. Jason's return has put extra pressure on the Rosewood Police Force to finally solve this case. Hanna coolly responds to his harassment, threatening to mention to Jason how Officer Wilden used to parade around her house in a towel.

While Lucas is helping Hanna, she remembers who else Alison had picked on that summer day. When Lucas had run in front of them to pick up his toy motor boat, she had incessantly made offensive comments to him. Finally, Hanna had exclaimed "hey" as if to stand up to Alison and stop her from teasing him, but she recoiled and sat silent. Alison then turned on her, warning her to never let a moment pass, as Lucas trudged away.

Later at Hanna's house, Hanna pushes an uneasy Aria closer Noel Kahn. Then, Lucas briefly stops by, giving Sean pause. Hanna claims it is for yearbook, but really, Lucas has dropped off the cash proceeds from Hanna's old handbags.

When Ashley comes home, she is stunned to see a fully stocked fridge and is upset to learn that Hanna sold her belongings. She expresses appreciation, but asks Hanna never to do it again, as it makes her feel inadequate as a provider.

At the memorial, the girls are stunned by the sudden reappearance of Ian, Melissa's ex, but even more surprised when Jenna takes the stage. As they wait with bated breath and anxiousness as to what she will say, or worse yet, spill, in the end, she offers quite possibly the kindest words for their dearly departed friend. Whether her moving speech was actually sincere, the Pretty Little Liars can't be sure, because it could just as easily be anothet trick up Jenna's sleeve.

After the memorial, Jason stops by Spencer's house to thank the girls, to give them a gift, the "Alison" friendship bracelet Alison had been wearing the day of her death. The girls quickly realise that the breaded bracelet that they had found must have been a fake, fashioned by someone like "A."

Spencer, Aria and Hanna study for the SAT while a storm brews in Rosewood. The next morning, Veronica escorts the girls into Rosewood High, leery of why the test is going to be administered as planned with a hurricane brewing outside.

Hanna and Lucas grow closer as Lucas continues to score Hanna big bucks selling her used accessories on the internet. But Mona is not enthusiastic about this new relationship development and mercilessly taunts Lucas, calling him "hermie" and "shim," named Alison had made up. Later, fed up, Hanna pulls Mona aside and calls her a hypocrite for treating someone of lesser social status so heartlessly when they used to be on that same strata themselves.

Soon, they all run into Detective Wilden bearing shocking news: somebody has trashed Alison's memorial,and he's there to investigate. The girls cover for Emily without knowing why. They lie about Emily's whereabouts the night before and claim that she was studying with them, although they are weirded out by Emily's secretiveness about what she was really doing, when even they don't know the truth.

They continue studying in the library. Emily goes off by herself. Later, while they are all in the locker room, Wilden hustles Emily into an empty classroom to question her. Although uninvited, the other girls follow, suspicious of the detective's shadiness. There, he accuses Emily of trashing Alison's memorial and even casts aspersions as to whether she murdered Alison. He pulls out the detached pieces of Alison's memorial and exposes Emily's letter to her friends. Flustered, Emily confesses that she loved Alison as more than a friend, but never intended any harm towards her. She felt bad about the mean things she wrote in that letter and went to Alison's memorial seeking closure and forgiveness. By the time she arrived, it had already been vandalised, and she took the figures from the statue in her bag because they were the only pieces of the memorial that weren't broken. Just then, Veronica walks in, outraged that the girls' safety has been compromised when they should be in the locker room during this storm. She gives Detective Wilden a piece of her mind and blasts him for trying to interrogate minors without an adult present. The girls are quick to chime in and exclaim the absurdity of accusing sweet Emily of murdering Alison, never mind stealing her bag without a search warrant.

At school, Mona hand delivers invitations for her camping birthday party on Saturday to select friends in the hallway. Of course, Hanna plans to go, but the rest of the girls are not planning to attend Mona's party, not caring for attitude-driven Mona all that much. They apologise to Hanna, but then "A" sends a message that she will also be in attendance and that the party is a scavenger hunt for her.

After school, Hanna discusses with her mother their strapped financial situation. Ashley doesn't want to reveal just how deep their money problems are, but Hanna gets an idea when she presses redial on the house phone to hear that she just called the delinquent accounts department of a mortgage company. Then, Mona comes over, hoping to convince Hanna to ditch school with her and celebrate her birthday by going shopping at designer stores and having lunch at Rive Gauche. Ashley, though tight on cash, proudly forks over $100 to her daughter when she hears Hanna refusing to join Mona based on the fact that things have been tight for them lately. She expresses disapproval over the idea of ditching school though.

At school, the girls are called to the principal's office, once again, for questioning by the police. This forces Hanna to text Mona that she has to back out of their shopping date, as she is forced to sit in the office at school; Mona had warned her that she wouldn't be forgiving if Hanna backed out, and sure enough, Mona texts back: "Screw Yor." Then, an FBI agent named Agent Cooper arrives; she has been enlisted as the representative of the FBI to assist the Rosewood Police in the murder mystery. Her approach in questioning is far milder than that of Officer Wilden. She does not seem accusing, rather wanting information. She shows them footage (sent by an anonymous source to the Rosewood Police Department) of Alison on the day that she disappeared. In the video, she is calling to someone and teasing him that he wants to kiss her. She asks the girls to provide as much information as they can to illuminate the finding. The girls are co-operative. Hanna, ever the fashionista, lets Agent Cooper know that she is positive that the sweater Alison takes off in the video did not belong to her.

Later, Hanna is abruptly dumped from the guest list of Mona's birthday party because she ditched Mona and also due to an alleged text sent by "A" to Mona, spreading the rumour that Hanna got liposuction to lose weight. Apparently, the rumour made its way to more than just Mona, because an overweight girl randomly approaches Hanna and asks who her doctor was. Hanna laughs it off to this stranger, but not to Mona. Mona is so upset she even embarrasses her friend in front of Naomi and Riley, as she dis-invites her from the party. At least Spencer and Emily are supportive and comfort Hanna about the falling out. It is ironic that Hanna mentions that Mona was her friend when the girls were no longer, and now that she is in a fight with Mona, she has them to fall back on.

At Spencer's house, Spencer confides to her friends that she had kissed Ian, and, after the two broke up, she had dated Ian for a while early last summer. The girls are understanding, unlike Alison had been. Speaking of Alison, the girls suddenly see Alison's photograph on the television screen. The report is talking about a sweater found in Alison's home with a matching blood stain. It is then revealed that the police have issued an arrest for Toby Cavanaugh, being wanted for Alison's murder. The girls are led to believe that Toby was Alison's mystery boyfriend, since the sweater was identified as his.

That evening, the girls plan to attend the party at the Rosewood Camping Grounds, and Hanna plans to secretly stake out the woods near the party, should "A" rear his or her head.

At the party, Hanna is on lookout with binoculars in the woods. She sees a car pull up and someone get in. She strains to see in the dark and realises it is Mr. Fitz car and Aria just got into it. Sure enough, a figure Hanna assumes to be the elusive "A" shows up and writes "I see you" in the condensation on the back windshield. Hanna tries to get hold of Aria to warn her, but Aria is deep in conversation with Ezra and doesn't pick up her phone.

Hanna texts the girls "I know who A is" and directs them to meet her in the parking lot. Hanna's discovery yields possibly fatal results because when she gets to the parking lot and spots the girls, she's quickly hit and flung over the top of an unknown car, whose driver doesn't stop to assess the damage. The girls rush to her side and call 911. A text from "A" reveals that she/he is responsible. Hanna "knew too much."

The next morning, Hanna wakes up in the hospital with her mother by her side. Hanna asks about her friends, and her mum tells her that the girls were there the night before, along with Sean and Lucas. Ashley is of course concerned by this nerdy acquaintance her daughter has made, but seems placated to hear that he's nothing more than a yearbook colleague.

The other girls come to the hospital to see Hanna, but first they have to get rid of Ashley so that they can talk candidly. Once Hanna manages that, she reveals two bombshells she discovered: that Aria is involved with Ezra and that Noel must be "A." She witnessed Noel run up to Ezra's car while Aria was inside and write "I SEE YOU" on his windshield, albeit without signing it from "A."

Later, Hanna wakes up from a bad dream and gets creeped out by the teddy bear staring at her. Then, Mona comes in waving a white bra as a peace flag. Mona tells Hanna that she admires her for taking a bow after puking on a trampoline during a backflip. It's the reason she wanted to be her friend. Mona feels guilty about the fight they had, and the two quickly resume their friendship. Next, Mona breaks out makeup to make Hanna look fabulous again.

That night, Hanna's door creepily opens until it revealed that it is just Lucas coming to visit her. He leasn over to kiss her on the forehead while she sleeps. After he walks away, Hanna opens her eyes because she was awake and knew that he kissed her.

The next morning Hanna wakes up to see Ashley standing over her. Hanna tells her mother that she doesn't need a private room, since it's expensive. Hanna's mum makes up something about a temporary bank loan to placate her daughter.

After that, Hanna has a painkiller-induced hallucination, as our favourite troublemaker Alison, donned in a candy striper outfit, drops subtle hints about her disappearance that fateful night. Hanna tries to ask her what happened, but all Alison will say is that the four of them combined already know the truth. She says that she finds "A" to be a bitch and tells Hanna that she needs to do something about her. She also says that it is dangerous for her to come, but she did it for Hanna, worried about her being in the hospital. After she leaves, Hanna spots a styrofoam cup near her bed with a berry-coloured lipstick stain on the rim, matching the exact shade of lipstick Alison is wearing during her "visit."

In the afternoon, Lucas brings Hanna vanilla tapioca, and butterscotch pudding, but no chocolate. Hanna tells Lucas he's a good friend. When he doesn't take the hint, she brings up his nighttime smooch, and he confirms that it did in fact happen. Lucas thinks she can do better than Sean and leaves her alone with her thoughts and pudding.

Later, the girls are contemplating the possibility of "A" and the killer being two different people when they discover an "A" message on Hanna's cast, indicating that "A" had visited Hanna in the hospital. Hanna is visibly freaked out.

The next day, the girls wheel their helpless friend Hanna back into her home, where she'll be on bed rest for a few more days before returning to school. They leave to get the rest of her belongings. While attempting to reach something on a high shelf, she knocks some boxes down and discovers the wads of cash in a lasagna box that Ashley's been hiding from her mini-heist. The girls return, and Hanna gets rid of them so she can be alone with her stack of money. She's not too alone though, because she gets a text from "A." A little while later, Hanna confronts her mum about the money, which she plays off as a "loan." Ashley insists that it's her problem and that Hanna should just worry about getting better.

Mona, feeling guilty for dumping Hanna the night she was hit, decides to throw her a surprise welcome home party, but it doesn't turn out well. Not only does Noel show up, but Lucas drinks too much. Just the sight of Noel prompts Hanna to have a flashback about him at a different party, when Alison had manipulated a girl to dump Noel so Aria could have him. Hanna tries to talk to Lucas, but he's too busy pounding alcohol to put up with her niceties.

Hanna and Sean are telling a story about skiing when Lucas interrupts to pick a fight with Sean by calling him a Saint Bernard. Lucas is clearly still upset about Hanna rejecting him and makes a big scene. When Sean finally gets mad, Noel hilariously stops him by declaring, "It's like fighting a kid that needs a telethon!" Hanna requests an audience with Lucas outside. She tells him not to pick a fight with Sean when he's really mad at her. Lucas says not everything is about her. He goes off on a rant that ends with him revealing that he destroyed Alison's memorial since she was such a bitch to him for so long. Hanna tells him she'll keep it between them, but thay just makes him sadder because when she's nice to him, it makes him like her more. Hanna brings up her suspicious feelings about Noel to Sean, who just wants to party. Hanna's not really in the party mood, though.

Alone at her house, Hanna hears creepy noises from upstairs. She wheels around with one of her crutches and then hides in the kitchen in the dark. Just when she's starting to freak out, her mum comes home and asks what happened. When she hears that people were over, she promptly heads to the pasta box to find that their money has been stolen.

Hanna and her mum are saddened by the fact that their stolen money has been stolen, so Hanna shares her sleeping pills with her mum as a condolence prize. Once she's alone, Hanna finds  note from "A" in one of her pill boxes promising to give the money back if she does what A says.

The next day, as Ashley drops Hanna off at school, sans cast, Hanna brings up her guilt over losing the money. Her mum says she already paid off their debt, but now she can't invest the rest to earn enough to pay it all back. Then her mum insists that "it's only a felony if they find out."

Meanwhile, Hanna finds a note attached to a Benjamin Franklin in her locker, telling her to pick up an order for "Hefty Hanna" from Lucky Leons on Main Street. Hanna quickly hides the money when Aria appears, then lies about having physical therapy in order to avoid getting coffee with Aria after school.

Hanna has flashbacks to her heavier days while "A" forces her to go on a cupcake binge, cruelly decorated like piglets, in public to earn back more of her mum's stolen money; she recalls the time Alison gave her advice to purge after binges to drop the pounds. She eats, as lacrosse jocks from school, including Noel, look on and taunt her. Hanna sees this as proof of Noel's identity as "A."

After Hanna finishes the cupcakes, she receives a text from "A" presumably taunting her to purge the cupcakes. Just then, Aria spots her and comes over, capably getting rid of the athletes, who are still oinking at her. Aria asks Hanna why she lied about physical therapy, and Hanna confesses about the bulimia. Hanna goes to the bathroom, but not to take "A" up on the second part of her dare; instead, she goes to wash her face and reaches for the paper towels. The first one reads "Oink, Oink Hanna," followed by a few hundred dollar bills, also courtesy of "A."

At home, Hanna tries to sneak her hard-earned cash back into the lasagna box, but her mum walks in and busts her. Hanna claims that she found it in the bathroom at the cupcake place, and her mum is skeptical, but not going to complain about the influx of cash. Hanna's mum also refuses to reveal how she can tell when Hanna is lying, so Hanna stands in front of the mirror and declares she is a virgin, then says she isn't a virgin, hoping to catch the difference in her demeanor.

The next day, Spencer spills the beans about Melissa's impending pregnancy to Hanna. Spencer voices her suspicion about Melissa's sudden decision for children. Emily comes over and reveals that Maya is being shipped off the juvie camp for three months because of the joint Pam found.

The girls are at Spencer's house, and Aria is all smiles because "A" saved her relationship. Hanna reminds Aria that "A" also tried to run her down, but as long as Ezra gets to stay in town, she's happy. Melissa comes in and makes some pleasantries with the girls, which ends in her telling the girls that she doesn't have to worry about Ian looking at other women. Then, the girls surprise Emily by sneaking her away for one last, romantic night between her and Maya in Spencer's room, with lit candles and plenty of privacy.

The rest of the girls go through Ian's boxes downstairs while Emily and Maya have a bittersweet farewell dance upstairs. The girls downstairs accomplish nothing. Maya thanks them and hugs everoyone goodbye while someone watches from the window. After she's gone, Emily thanks them and Hanna mentions another girl who went were Maya is heading for huffing spray paint and came back as drummer in a gospel band.

They then receive a shocking video about the night Alison disappeared. It is the same footage that Officer Cooper had shown them, but there's extra in this video: seconds of footage center on a smiling Ian. Then the camera angle shifts, and we hear signs of struggling. Alison's hand comes into the view of the lens, groping the leaves on the ground, as she seems to have fallen, until the hand stops moving and goes limp. The girls scream as they see this and hear a noise outside. Whoever it is runs through the woods, and the girls try to chase the stalker, but it's gone by the time they're outside.

The girls examine the video "A" left for them that illuminates what looks to be the final moments of Alison's life near The Kissing Rock the night she disappeared. Right after Ian's cameo on the video, he surprises them in person, as he tries to grab a late-night snack from the Hastings' kitchen. The girls all freak out while Ian makes small talk, acting nonchalant, so there's no indication whether he saw his face on the computer screen or not. After he leaves, they decide they need to hand the video over to the police.

At school, the girls are decorating for the school's upcoming dance-a-thon, but take a break to discuss whether they should turn the video into the police. They question "A's" motives, but Emily doesn't care; as far as she is concerned, she doesn't want Toby to go to jail, and this video could prevent that. Aria agrees with Emily and offers to drive Spencer to the police station during their lunch break.

Later, Hanna tries to get a job to alleviate the Marins' financial strife. She asks Sean if she can work for his mother as a dental assistant again, but Sean says no, because last time she threatened a kid with drill bit for aiming his spit at her. Sean is suspicious of why she needs money and can't get it from her mother, so she makes up an excuse about wanting to save up for some expensive earrings. She tries to get a job with a local store clark, who is also a family friend, and finds out just how strapped their situation is when the woman lets her know that her mother owes their store money. Hanna offers to pay off the debt, but the woman says that Hanna alone couldn't pay off the debt, "there are not enough days in the week." Just then, "A" sends Hanna a text offering her money in exchange for a "job."

We then see Emily on the phone, arguing with Maya's guards at her rehab center, True North. The guards won't allow her to speak to her girlfriend. Apparently, she can only receive calls from her mother and father. So, Hanna offers up the phone-hacking services of a new kid with tech-cred, who can wire Emily's phone to make it seem that she is one of the St. Germains when she calls Maya.

At lunch, the girls are getting ready to head to the police station when they realise that Spencer's laptop is missing, despite the fact that it has been in her bag, plastered to her side all day, save when she kept it in her gym locker. A notebook seems to have been swapped with her laptop, camouflaging the weight different. The girls deduce that it must have been taken when she left it in her gym locker, which Ian has access to since he is an athletic coach.

That night, Spencer and Hanna wait in the coat check line at the dance, and Hanna shows off her hip flask. Meanwhile, Emily watches Ian lock his suspicious briefcase away in his desk drawer. Ian checks his coat with his keys in the pocket, and the girls begin to hatch a plan to get the keys and get into his desk, where they think Spencer's laptop is clearly hidden. Hanna wonders if he has already erased the video, but Spencer says that if he did, it would indicate definite guilt and that they should inform the police.

Caleb Rivers shows up with Emily's newly souped-up phone, and Hanna calls him out for overcharging poor Emily. They exchange words about now knowing the first thing about Hanna, and he leaves. Hanna then gets a text from "A" telling her to dance with dorky Lucas for $200 per dance.

Hanna is dancing with Sean, but tells him she should dance with poor, lonely Lucas, who reminds her so much of herself in her own dork days. Sean is not happy, and claims that Hanna was different than Lucas, because she was sweet, while Lucas seems deserving of a beating. He then tells her if she wants to perform charity she should save a whale. But Sean leaves, and Hanna convinces Lucas to dance with her. As the song is over, Hanna convinces Lucas to dance with her for just one more song, which happens to be a slow one.

Hanna then leaves Lucas on the dance floor when an angered Sean confronts Hanna about the fact that one dance with Lucas has turned into five. Sean is unforgiving of Hanna's unceremonious treatment of him and asks Hanna if she brought him to the dance just to diss him. Hanna then gets a text from "A" upping her payrate to $500 a dance. Any chance of Hanna dancing with Sean again that night, or possibly ever again, is now gone. She returns for another dance with Lucas, discreetly crying on his shoulder as they sway.

Emily drinks from Hanna's stolen hip flask and nearly causes an accusatory scene with Ian, about his murdering Alison. Spencer covers up, claiming her accusation was referring to their kiss, but this too angers Ian, who had hoped nobody else knew that secret. Spencer and Hanna get Emily outside and decide they'll all crash at Spencer's that night, so Emily doesn't have to deal with her mother, and Spencer doesn't have to be alone with Ian lurking about. Lucas approaches Hanna and offers her a ride home, but Hanna insists that her friends need her. After Lucas walks off, Hanna finds that "A" did not disappoint; she pulls her scarf out of her coat pocket and a fat wad of cash falls out onto the ground. Before they leave, drunk-honest Emily accuses Hanna of pulling on Alison, leading a boy on, only to break his heart; Hanna is guilt-ridden.

At Spencer's home, Hanna prevents Emily from drunk-dialling Maya and puts her to bed. Emily starts to apologise, but Hanna says she was right, and Hanna feels bad for leading Lucas on, so insensitively. But Emily falls asleep, missing Hanna's admission; Hanna removes her shoes and pulls the covers over Emily.

When she goes downstairs, Hanna discovers that Spencer's laptop has reappeared on the coffee table under some newspaper with the incriminating video erased and a photo of Alison the night she disappeared instead. There is a message courtesy of "A" to accompany the pixels. The picture shows Alison walking through Spencer's backyard, with a shadow in tow; it seems to have been photographed from the perspective of the DiLaurentis house. Hanna notices the shadow behind Alison and asks Spencer if she knows who it is. Spencer claims not to know.

Aria rouses the girls early in the morning from their sleep at Spencer's house. She's been up all night analysing the picture that "A" left them. The girls all huddle close to Aria, but Spencer stands aloof, not quite comfortable participating for some reason. Aria has figured out that the picture was taken from the perspective of Alison's bedroom window. She thinks Alison's brother, Jason, may have taken the picture. Hanna notes that her mother saw him at the bank, indicating that he is back in town. Aria proposes talking to Jason, but Emily and Hanna treat the thought of approaching him with disdain. Spencer quickly volunteers, wanting to know if he indeed took the picture.

At home, Hanna slips some big bills into the box of popsicles in the freezer. She manages to slide the door shut before her mother Ashley walks into the kitchen and can see what she's up to. Ashley is taking a work call, and she is nonchalant towards the other person on the line until she hears that a new development has been added to the schedule. Apparently, there is a meeting, previously unplanned, scheduled for later that day. When she gets off the phone, Ashley sits down heavily and lets Hanna know that Mrs. Potter, the lender of their loan, has made an appointment to see Ashley this week. But she tells Hanna to go to school, not outwardly panicking despite the fact that she could be busted very soon for her "unauthorised loan."

Later in the hallway, Hanna calls her mum, worried about their family situation, but Ashley again instructs her to stay calm. Aria and Spencer ask Hanna about her conversation, but she brushes it off. Then Spencer gives Aria two tickets to a museum, as her father has no use for them, though he's a member. Aria plans to make a date night with Ezra out of the tickets.

Next, Hanna is notified by Coach Fulton that she has a week's worth of detention for skipping gym class three times. Hanna tries to use ankle pain and the fact that she was hit by a car to get out of it, but Coach Fulton points out that Hanna was on her feet for hours at the dance marathon. Caleb sees the exchange and doesn't miss the opportunity to tease Hanna. Then, Hanna opens her locker to find an envelope from "A" containing a third ticket to the museum opening that Aria plans to attend with Ezra. "A" has commissioned Hanna to give the ticket to Ella Montgomery, thereby busting Aria's illicit relationship, in exchange for getting her mother's cash back. "A" fashions the order in the form of a mother's day card, with a word bubble above the mother saying "I need money."

Hanna returns from school to find her pajama-clad mother asleep on a kitchen chair. When Hanna enters, Ashley stirs quickly and whimsically decides to make pancakes. While she's cracking eggs, she reminisces how she had saved Hanna at the hospital, when the doctors were stitching up her ear. They had wanted to shave the hair there, but Ashley had insisted that the effect could be detrimental to Hanna's state of mind when she woke up. Ashley then tears up and assures Hanna that she will always take care of her. Hanna breaks with her mother to remove the ticket-containing envelope from her bag and jot down the name "Ella Montgomery" on the front.

Hanna then delivers the envelope to Ella Montgomery's school mailbox, adding a line of thanks from the Rosewood PTA, passing it off as a token of appreciation. Aria then spots Hanna and invites her to a joint manicure after school. Hanna declines, using homework as an excuse, which makes Aria raise an eyebrow. Aria takes Hanna's glum mood to be about her breakup with Sean, which prompts her to mention the challenges of her own relationship with Ezra. While on the subject, Hanna suggests that Aria and Ezra cool off and not go to Philadelphia for her date that night. At first Aria is confused, but then she interprets Hanna's remarks as signs of jealousy and walks away, insulted by her friend.

In Ella Montgomery's history class, recalling the beginning of World War II, Spencer plays Hermione Granger by answering all the teachers' questions. Spencer points out that bullies can never be appeased, which gives Hanna pause, as reflected by the expression on her face. When class ends, Hanna hurries over to her to try and stop Ella, but she had already left the classroom. She runs toward her, calling her name, but before she can follow her down the hallway, Coach Fulton corners her and forces her into the detention classroom.

At detention, Hanna finds the company in none other than Caleb. While joking around with her, Caleb learns that Hanna is trying to prevent Ella from driving to Philadelphia. He uses his phone to stage that his social worker has dismissed him from detention.

Detention ends for Hanna at 4:00, and she leaves the classroom with a sinking feeling. Then, Hanna visits her mother at work, wanting to be there to support her when the bomb goes off. But, a different bomb is dropped when Denise, Ashley's co-worker, interrupts the Marins' conversation to inform Ashley that Mrs. Potter has had a heart attack and could not be revived. The law-evading women hug at the bittersweet news.

At school the next day, Hanna musters up the courage to approach Aria, planning to confess about almost exposing her relationship. But Aria is thrilled to be talking to Hanna again; they make up, and Aria gushes about her successful date with Ezra. Hanna just goes along with Aria and changes her mind about confessing.

Hanna goes to her locker to find Caleb leaning against it. She compares him to barnacles, making him smile. He then hands her a piece of Ella Montgomery's car, which he removed the day before. When Hanna finds out that Caleb had helped to prevent Ella from getting there, she is pleased, but isn't outwardly grateful. She does offer him money, but Caleb says he wants something else; he doesn't know what yet, but he'll think about it.

At night, the girls are in Spencer's room, where Spencer reveals to the other girls that it was HER shadow in the picture with Alison. She had gone after Ali after the two had a fight. Spencer admits that the reason she had never told the girls thus far was because she had felt responsible for wishing Alison dead. Aria wisely points out that Alison had said far worse, and the other girls comfort her similarly. Suddenly, the girls all move to Spencer's bedroom window, where they see Jason DiLaurentis in his old house across the street, looking out his own window in their direction. The girls are shocked to see him inside.

The next day, at school, Hanna and Aria discuss the new school news: someone has been breaking into the vending machines to steal food and also triggering the school alarm at 3:00 am in order to leave the building. Aria then changes the subject to the ticket to the art gallery. Hanna tries to persuade Aria that the whole thing was just a weird coincidence. She hurriedly leaves Aria to go over to where Caleb is sitting and bossily lets him know that his playing with Ella's car is completely confidential. Caleb shoots back that Hanna owes him. Just then Hanna gets a text from "A" warning her that "A" will not keep her secret, even if Caleb will.

In the library, Hanna takes a break from reading with Emily and Spencer in order to meet with Caleb. Caleb has come up with an idea for what he would like Hanna to do to repay him, date him, in order to up his credibility at school and win himself some customers who will trust a guy that dates the homecoming queen. Reluctantly, Hanna arranges a time at Emily's swim match the next day, where she will be cheering on her friend.

In Aria's room, Hanna continues to try to distract Aria from stressing about the gallery ticket and what would have happened had her mother's car not stalled. Aria then overhears her father on the phone with someone, saying that he plans to meet him/her in the dark. Aria is sure from the coversation that Byron Montgomery is talking to a woman, and Byron denies that he was speaking to Ella when Aria asks. She is especially suspicious because he had said that he was going to a department dinner, but at least Byron has the sense to admit that those plans fell through. Aria wants Hanna's help in getting to the bottom of this new mystery. She gets Hanna to join her in stalking her father.

Next, Aria's suspicions of her father having another extramarital affair lead her to Rosewood High School of all places. Hanna has the bright idea to have Aria call her mother, who is in the school library. On the phone, Ella tells her daughter that she is at home, and Aria lies likewise. Unsure, Aria goes into the building with Hanna on her heels to check out what's going on. Crouching inside the library, they see Byron and Ella making out.

Then, while still in the library, Hanna notices some stuff inside the vents, including clothing, bags, cell phones and a fat wad of cash. Hanna posits that this stuff belongs to "A." Hanna then grabs the cash before being chased by a frightening figure in black. Aria and Hanna run for their lives, before, Hanna instinctively sprays her chaser with hairspray. Eventually, Aria and Hanna realise that their persuer is Caleb, who has been sleeping at the school and has been the one who had triggered the school's alarm system the night before. Hanna returns Caleb's money to him. Caleb even lets the girls in on his foster care situation that has driven him to find alternative places to live.

The next day, in the hallways, Hanna expresses her concern over Caleb living in school. He brushes off her concern and asks her to make good on her deal to up his reputation. So, Hanna helps Caleb scout out the fellow rich kids in school and become acquainted with them through her, in order to raise the profits of his underground business ventures. She introduces him to Bridget Wu in exchange for Caleb listing for Hanna all the places that he is from. The two continue like that, exchanging names for information, as their friendship grows.

During the meet, Hanna, Spencer, Aria and Caleb sit together. When Caleb gets up, Aria and Spencer express their surprise at and disapproval of Hanna's new friend. Hanna isn't too affected.

After the match, Hanna finds Caleb digging his belongings out from a school trash bin; clearly the custodians found Caleb's stuff and disposed of them. In a friendly gesture, Hanna offers to help Caleb with his living situation; she offers to let him secretly crash in her basement, without her mother knowing. His main fear is that if Hanna's mum knows, she will call social services, landing him in an even worse situation. She hands him an address, and he looks like he is going to think about it.

Then, Aria approaches Hanna about a text from "A" alerting her that Hanna almost got her busted somehow. She is initially prepared to trust her friend before she trusts "A." When Hanna drops the bombshell that she was the one who gave Ella the ticket, Aria is unforgiving, leaving the two at an impasse. Aria doesn't give Hanna a chance to explain about Caleb messing with Ella's car.

At home, Hanna sits on the stairs, trying to reconcile with Aria. Caleb approaches her to ask if it is okay to use the towels in the bathroom after he showers. Apparently, he has decided to take Hanna up on her deal and stay over. Hanna mumbles an unconcerned answer, and Caleb detects she is upset. He prods a little before Hanna confesses that her mistake was not totally cleared by Caleb's helping pull the kill switch from Mrs. Montgomery's car. Her secret role in the endeavor was exposed, and she's afraid Aria will never speak to her again. She doesn't tell Caleb all the details, but he gets the point when he sees the tears. Hanna tells him he can leave her to shower; Caleb rises momentarily, then sits back down, letting her know that it can wait.

Aria is still hurt by Hanna's betrayal, and so decides to sit apart from Hanna and the other Pretty Little Liars while they meet up in Spencer's room. The girls discuss the strangeness of Melissa's rapid change in life plans. They use a website to decipher the three letters of the Braille message: B-A-D. Aria decides it must be a joke that Toby is playing on them, but Emily doesn't think that he would mess with them at a time like this. Aria then leaves in a huff, completely forgetting their conversation.

The next day, at home, Ashley takes the remaining cash from the popsicle box in the freezer in order to return it to Mrs. Potter's safety deposit box. Hanna tries to talk Ashley out of it, as Mrs. Potter has no use for it anymore, but Ashley insists that it is the right thing to do. As soon as Hanna hears her mother close the door behind her, she opens the basement door to let Caleb out. She makes him breakfast over conversation, trying to make sure if he wants to go back to the foster home, but soon the door re-opens, and Caleb scatters, while Hanna hides his cereal bowl. But, Caleb's hat is still lying exposed on the kitchen counter. When Ashley walks back into the kitchen, she finds Hanna washing the dishes, or more precisely, Caleb's hat, in an attempt to hide it from her mother. But Ashley is unfazed and simply instructs Hanna to wear gloves while she does the dishes.

At school, Hanna gives Caleb back his soggy hat. Aria watches from a distance before determinedly approaching Hanna to forgive her, as she realises that they're both contending with a more evil power in "A," who is clearly trying to tear the friends apart. She acknowledges Hanna's attempt to undo her mistake by pulling the kill switch on Ella's car.

Spencer, Aria, Hanna and Emily sit down for lunch. Spencer expresses her disapproval of Hanna's growing relationship with Caleb, declaring him dark. But, Hanna reminds her friends that they had treated Toby the same way, silencing him.

Ashley agrees to go out with Mr. James Leland (Mrs. Potter's nephew) to find out more about what he wants. While Ashley is preparing for her date in the foyer, Caleb comes over, through the front door, surprising Hanna and disconcerting Mrs. Marin, who immediately forms a negative opinion of her daughter's new friend. In fact, Ashley worries that Hanna is rebounding from Sean in a bad way. When James comes over, Caleb takes the liberty of opening the door and greeting him. Hanna and Caleb are immediately suspicious of James, though for different reasons. Caleb claims architects don't use crappy pens, which Mr. Leland uses to sign some form that Ashley presents him for the bank. Hanna doesn't get good vibes, as she thinks the guy to be too smooth.

The girls shop at a clothing store, where Aria and Hanna explain to the other two what their past quarrel was about. They discuss "A" and Caleb, and Hanna reveals to her friends that Caleb is crashing at her house. The girls express their shock, but stop short when they spot Jenna trying something on in the lingerie section of a department store, overhearing her say to the clerk that her mysterious suitor "loves lace."

Caleb is not surprised to hear that Ashley had not taken Hanna's warnings about Mr. Leland being shady; he is used to parents ignoring their children's opinion. He announces that he did some sleuthing on their behalf and has discovered that Mr. Leland is not who he says he is; James Leland, indeed an architect from Syracuse, died two years prior, making this guy an imposter with a dark motive. Hanna informs Ashley later, but she is loathe to do anything about it, as it might draw attention to herself and the connection she has with the safety deposit box. She is also not too keen on Caleb being involved.

At night, Hanna thanks Caleb for his help that day. She walks Caleb to the basement before an exterminator shows up to take care of the infestation problem in the basement. Clearly, "A" wants Hanna to know that she is aware that Caleb is crashing there, even if her mother isn't.

As if Aria, Hanna, Spencer and Emily don't have enough drama in their lives, Mr. Fitz decides to put on a school production of the award-winning play The Bad Seed, the story about a girl who wreaks havoc on her small town, eerily echoing our Pretty Little Liars' own troubles. Aria goes to the tryouts at 4:00 pm to support Hanna and act opposite her, with no intention of joining the play herself. However, the girls urge Aria to be Ezra's stage manager for the production, so that she can spend more time with him. The other girls, in addition to Mona, are interested in getting parts in the play. Jenna enters the scene and offers to compose flute music for the play, letting Mr. Fitz know that she approves of his choice of play, because she oddly finds it "inspiring," and thereby annoying Aria.

The next morning, at the Marin household, Ashley grows increasingly suspicious of their lack of food, as Hanna has been secretly housing foster kid Caleb in their basement. Hanna admits to having Caleb over a couple of times for dinner, but even that bothers Ashley, as she doesn't completely trust Caleb.

Next, Hanna walks into the bathroom to grab something while Caleb is showering. Ashley enters as well, looking for her phone, which she has put in the charger there, prompting Hanna to jump in the shower fully clothed so that her mother won't realise it is Caleb showering, not Hanna. She holds her hand over his mouth so he won't make noise and makes an awkward situation even worse when he catches her sneaking a peek when he turns around.

At play practice, Aria and Ezra prove to have an uncomfortable, awkward working relationship, namely Aria's slipping up by referring to Mr. Fitz as Ezra while seated next to him. All the girls are present, as well as Mona, who raises an eyebrow. Spencer and Hanna have been cast as main characters. Hanna and Mona also catch up at play practice; when Mona sees Caleb spying Hanna, she is inquisitive, and Hanna confides in Mona about her morning shower. Hanna does not make much eye contact with Caleb, as she is too sheepish about seeing him naked. Suddenly, Ian walks into the room, expressing surprise that he's in the wrong room for the varsity team practice. The girls huddle close together and comment on how creepy Ian is.

Spencer flashes back to the college party Alison had snuck them into with fake ID's, probably in an effort to spy on Ian. Ian had been flirting with a particularly tipsy girl and had gone off with her to one of the rooms upstairs. Looking back, the girls wish they had said something to Melissa sooner about Ian.

After school, Hanna sits in her kitchen, making a sandwich while practicing her lines for the play. Caleb walks in and tries to divert her attention, but Hanna is cold towards him, choosing to focus on anything except Caleb. Finally, Hanna walks away, leaving Caleb with her unfinished sandwich. He tries to directly ask her for help, but she refuses.

Back at play practice, Spencer, Emily and Hanna review their lines and discuss the motives of their characters, no doubt finding parallels to their own lives. They catch sight of Ian hanging around close to where they are standing, prompting Emily to have a flashback to the night of the party. The girl that Ian had left with had suddenly taken a nasty tumble down the stairs in the middle of the party. They had all exchanged looks after her fall, although Ali had been no where in sight, but Ian had been at the top of the stairs. In hindsight, the girls are left to question whether Ian had pushed that girl.

Caleb pulls Hanna aside from play practice to return Jenna's phone (which Spencer had given him) and let her know that he can't hack it. He tries to break Hanna's solid demeanor towards him, directly addressing the fact that they had been in the shower together and that Hanna's behaviour has not been the same since.

Mr. Fitz ends practice for the day, leaving Aria, Spencer, Hanna and Emily alone in the rehearsal room. While packing her costume away in the prop box, Spencer stumbles across a trophy with Ian Thomas' name on it. Spencer twirls it in her fingers, seeing dried blood at the base of the trophy. The trophy is from a tournament in Hilton Head which took place the weekend Ali disappeared. Spencer posits that it is the murder weapon Ian used to kill Alison and decides to hand it over to the police, along with the other Liars.

As they leave the police station, the girls make plans to sleep at Emily's place, except Hanna who needs to go home to make sure Caleb doesn't accidentally scare her mum.

At home, Hanna also gets a chance to try to patch things up with Caleb. Caleb sees that Hanna is ignoring him and so packs up his things, ready to leave her home. Hanna stops him, but when he brings up her poor treatment of him, she admits that seeing him naked caused her to avoid him. He lets her know that it doesn't mean that she has to "throw down too." It seems that Hanna was afraid of her feelings for Caleb, but isn't anymore. The two kiss for the first time.

The next day at school, some police officers and a detective appear. The detective, Detective Breyer, approaches the Liars and asks for Spencer. It turns out that while failures to turn evidence into the police before were mistakes, in this instance, reporting to the police was the mistake. He lets them know that the trophy was proven to be a fake, there was no golf tournament in Hilton Head on that date, and the blood on it wasn't human; it was from  rat. The girls are then taken to the police precinct for questioning. On their way out from school, the girls get a text from "A," letting them know just who was responsible for the trophy set up. Reflecting again on the night of the frat party, Aria considers the possibility that Ali had been the one to push the girl, and Spencer concurs that it was possible that she had done it in a jealous rage because the girl had been with Ian. Aria vividly recalls that Alison had been nowhere to be found most of the night. Suddenly, the girls look up to see Ian close by, slouching in front of the school entrance, lazily watching them. Chilled, the girls turn away.

The girls realise they've been duped when the bloody trophy lands them in hotter water than expected, with an angry police team more hell-bent than ever to find Alison's killer, despite these setbacks. Further complicating matters is Garrett Reynolds, a boy the girls all knew growing up in their neighbourhood, who's now a police officer and has just been assigned to the case. The girls are being questioned by the police as to why they think Ian is the killer. Each of the girls lets Detective Breyer know about the video footage of Ian with Alison. Spencer suggests that Ian may have been into younger girls, but when asked to back that claim, she pointedly does not mention that she dated him, as she is being interrogated while sitting next to her mother. The girls' parents convene in the hall after the interrogation, believing they are the victims of a "cruel prank." The girls compare notes; none of them mentioned Spencer's fling with Ian.

At home, Hanna is having more trouble hiding Caleb. The latest evidence involves Caleb leaving the toilet seat up, alerting her mother to the fact that a boy has been in the upstairs portion of their house, which is against the rules. She also catches Hanna making breakfast for Caleb and grows suspicious when Hanna tries to pass off the cereal as her own.

Hanna and Caleb come home from school and start kissing passionately. They make their way to the kitche, where Ashley confronts them. She asks Caleb to leave, but Hanna protests that he just arrived. Ashley contradicts Hanna and shows them Caleb's backpack, which she discovered in the basement. She knows that Hanna's been hiding Caleb, as the grocery bill has tripled and the toilet seat has been left up multiple times. Ashley evicts Caleb from her home just as he and Hanna were starting to become romantically involved. Caleb leaves, and Hanna follows slamming the door behind them.

That night, Caleb and Hanna camp out in the Rosewood camping grounds. Caleb is surprised by Hanna deftness at camping, and the two confide in each other about their upbringings. Hanna mentions her past weight problem, and Caleb discusses his experience with foster parents and social workers. After sharing intimate stories, the two share some kisses. Then, Hanna and Caleb take things to the next level before falling asleep in their tent.

The next day, after Hanna comes home, Ashley lets her know that she was about to call the police, worried about Hanna. But Hanna snaps back at her mother, surprised that she doesn't sympathise with Caleb's plight. Realising that her relationship with Hanna is very compromised, Ashley picks up the phone when Caleb calls Hanna, to invite him to dinner.

Caleb comes over for dinner. Afterwards, he goes to thank Ashley, who lets Caleb know that he is allowed to stay, but warns him not to hurt her daughter. She is a bit rough with him when he thanks her, pointing out that she did it for her daughter, not him, but on a softer note she tells him to call her "Ashley," not "Mrs. Marin."

That night, Hanna and the others receive SOS texts from Spencer, and the three congregate on her front lawn to find out that the Rosewood police have made Spencer a person of interest in the murder of Alison and have begun to stake out her house. The girls are texted this information by "A."

The next day, at the Marins', Caleb makes eggs for breakfast, and Ashley gets used to having a guy in the house. Before heading out to school, Hanna finds what she thinks is a present meant for her in Caleb's bag in the form of a jewelled owl, presumably in commemoration of their first night when they heard owls in the woods.

At school in the cafeteria, Hanna shows the other girls the picture she snuck of the owl before returning it to Caleb's bag. Just then, Aria spots Sean and Paige flirting with each other, as they share a table and jokes in the lunch room. Hanna, oblivious to Paige's questionable sexuality status, is happy for Sean to be moving on.

Later, in the courtyard, Aria and Emily overhear Caleb mysteriously speaking on the phone with someone, telling that person that something cannot happen that night. He keeps referring to "her," and it becomes clear after he mentions that he is living in her house that he means Hanna; the other person seems to be saying negative things, while Caleb is defending her. When he gets off the phone, Aria and Emily hide before Caleb can see them. The two interpret the phone conversation to mean that Caleb is talking to another girl in a romantic way. When they share their suspicious with Hanna at lunch, she is loathe to believe in his dishonesty. However, when Jenna walks into the lunch room wearing the owl around her neck, Hanna is devastated. She tries to text Caleb, but to no avail; he isn't responding.

Spencer then watches Jenna outside, who is wearing her headphones oblivious to those around her. Spencer figures out that the owl is a flash drive, when she sees Jenna insert it into her computer. Hanna tries to reach Caleb for answers, but he is M.I.A. So, she writes him a note, slipping it into his locker. She walks away, then pauses and turns around, then tries to crack the combination, using 2-1-14, and it works. She is furious and hashes it out with Caleb when she returns home from school. He says he never meant to hurt her and told Jenna he couldn't help her anymore once things between him and Hanna started happening. She is not satisfied with this though, and makes him leave.

The next day at school, Aria, Hanna and Emily walk into the bathroom. When Hanna sees Jenna, she walks up to her and surprise slaps her across the face, to Emily and Aria's shock. At least, she has the decency to bend down and return Jenna's sunglasses to her without making her crawl on the floor.

That night, Hanna breaks down, heartbroken over what Caleb did to her, and Ashley is disheartened. Hanna pretends to be taking a bath, but her mother knows that she is really crying alone in the bathroom.

The next day, Ashley tries to engage Hanna, but she is still bummed out about Caleb. Ashley wants to know why he moved out, but Hanna doesn't reveal anything. Seeing her daughter distraught, Ashley offers to let Hanna stay home from school, but just then Mona shows up. Mona asks if Caleb is permanently gone, and Hanna responds in the affirmative. Mona then takes the blame for Hanna's getting hurt and wishes she had prevented him from getting to close to her friend. Their conversation clues Ashley into some of the details of what ensued.

At school, Hanna approaches Caleb, where he is sitting reading at an outdoor bench. Caleb is hopeful that this means that they are on speaking terms again when Hanna asks to sit next to him, but she just confronts Caleb for playing her and demands to at least know what he was supposed to be looking for. Caleb reveals that Jenna was looking for a key, though Hanna has no clue why or to what. Caleb explains that it was related to Alison. Caleb then asks Hanna why Jenna is so interested, but Hanna cuts him off, not allowing him to be the one asking questions. After she exhausts everything that Caleb knows, he brings up their relationship. Hanna nods for a moment, before shrugging and strutting away.

In Emily's room, the girls congregate to discuss what Jenna may have been looking for. They also discuss the creep factor in Caleb rifling through Hanna's belongings, invading her privacy. But, Aria comes to Caleb's defense, knowing how tempting it is sometimes to go through somebody's else's information, such as her boyfriend's web page and find out about a fiancee. Emily suggests coming clean to Ezra about it, but Hanna tries to convince Aria to create a page of her own posing as one of Jackie's past classmates in order to sneakily find out more about the status of her involvement with Ezra. Later, Hanna coaches Aria how to set up a fake profile and get Jackie to accept her friend request.

Hanna is at the festival, setting up a booth. When she sees Caleb, she ducks into another tent, wishing to avoid her heart breaker. Caleb commissions Mona, who treats him unpleasantly, to deliver the letter to Hanna. Unfortunately, Mona intervenes by promising to deliver it, but instead tears it up, drops it in the trash can, and dumps a drink on it.

At the Founder's Day Festival, Ashley approaches Hanna to ask whether she's seen Caleb, but Hanna hasn't seen him. Ashley lets her know that Caleb came over to say goodbye because he is leaving Rosewood.

Later, Hanna sees Caleb boarding the bus out of Rosewood, all the while thinking he is a complete jerk to not even bother to say goodbye to her. They make eye contact, but she is too hurt to speak to him.

Following her instinct, Emily examines a snow globe she had received from Alison, and at the bottom, she finds a key with numbers printed on it. There is also a tag attached, with the name of a storage place. Emily, Aria and Hanna track down the place, and there, they uncover a flash drive contained in a lunch box, stored in a garage that Alison had planted. The flash drive contains secret videos, mostly of the girls in intimate moments; Alison somehow knew that they were being spied on while she was alive. There is footage of July 4, moments before "The Jenna Thing," when Ali had been sure someone was spying on them in Emily's room.

There is even some footage of Jenna, and the girls begin to understand what Jenna was seeking in enlisting Caleb to search Hanna's hard drive, in the footage, she is seducing and blackmailing Toby. Spencer comes up with the idea of asking Jenna what she knows, before taking the information to the police to incriminate Ian. The other Liars aren't so sure; they don't think they can trust Jenna at all, but Spencer is adamant.

The next day, Ashley tries to snap Hanna out of moping over Caleb. She is surprised to hear that Caleb never delivered the letter he had planned to give her the day before.

After class, Hanna asks Mona whether Caleb had tried to give her anything at the Founder's Day Festival. Mona totally lies, seemingly trying to protect Hanna's well-being. Lucas overhears their conversation, and afterwards, makes a face at Hanna. He is still mad at her for treating him poorly at the dance-a-thon.

In the school music room, the Little Liars confront Jenna about the incriminating video they found of her and Toby. Jenna tells her story, how Alison had visited her at the hospital on the day that she disappeared and had threatened Jenna never to reveal the truth about "The Jenna Thing" or face having her inappropriate relationship exposed. Alison had played footage of her seducing Toby and used it as blackmail. Before she left Jenna, Alison had warned her never to return to Rosewood, or she would bury her. Jenna asks what the girls are going to do with the video. They assure her they'll keep it safe, but she won't be getting it. Jenna seems to be telling the truth, though, when she discloses what Ali said to her at the hospital, and they believe her, given how it explains Jenna's seemingly strange speech at the memorial dedication.

At lunch, Spencer presents the other Liars with an anonymous cell phone that they can use to anonymously text Ian. Hanna texts him a blackmail message, demanding $10,000 in exchange for the videos. While they plot, they spot Ian standing by the snack machine in the cafeteria. When Ian gets the text, he immediately leaves the cafeteria to take care of it. They set a place for Ian to meet, just before Mona swings by to sit with them. However, as soon as she arrives, the girls all split, leaving Mona by herself with her lunch tray.

At the meeting point, the girls get a text from "A," warning them to prepare, though the girls aren't sure for what. Emily takes Garrett up on his offer for help and confides in him about the Ian situation. He shows up in her personal car, wearing civilian clothes. Ian fails to show, Instead, a messenger boy with a sack of cash goes in his place, and Officer Garrett corners him. He turns the messenger away without telling the girls what he has done, though the girls have already caught sight of the messenger.

As they get into the car to join Spencer, Emily gets a call from Spencer. They are able to hear her entire fight with Ian at the church, including his entire plan for staging Spencer's suicide. Knowing how much danger she's in, they rush to save her and dial 911. As they rush to the church, they see that she is physically okay, but very shaken, whereas Ian is dangling motionlessly, entangled in the church bell's ropes.

Later, the girls walk out of the church together, but are stopped when Officer Barry Maple calls them back to ask if their story is a joke. He can see the confusion on their faces, so he motions the girls to follow him into the church. Inside, they see that the bell tower is indeed empty, and Ian's body is nowhere to be found. Much of the town emerges to see what the commotion is about, and Rosewood is left to wonder just how much truth the girls have been telling. Meanwhile, the girls all receive simultaneous messages, as "A" assures the girls that this is far from over.