Mel lost her baby but was determined to still become a mom by any means possible.
Mel was pregnant and newly engaged at the beginning of “Virgin River” season five. However, tragedy struck midseason.
She lost the baby after a camping trip with Jack, right before a large wildfire spread across the fictional Californian town.
She was devastated by the loss but by the end of the season, she had resolved to have a family with Jack by any means and began to consider adoption.
In the additional Christmas episodes, Mel discovered her biological father was a man named Everett Reid (John Allen Nelson).
Jack got into business with some bad eggs.
Jack faced a huge setback with his glamping business after Melissa (Barbara Pollard) was arrested. Unbeknownst to Jack, she had taken over as the head of the Virgin River-area drug operation.
Jack’s new business was shut down as part of the investigation into Melissa’s illegal activities.
Elsewhere, Jack and Mel took a huge leap forward in their relationship. The couple decided to purchase Lily’s (Lynda Boyd) farmland, which just so happened to be the spot of their first kiss.
At the end of the season, the two were planning to build a new home for themselves and their longed-for family.
Charmaine gave birth to her twins and fessed up to Jack that he was not the father.
In season five, Jack’s ex, Charmaine (Lauren Hammersley), revealed she lied about him being the father of her unborn twins.
As it turns out, the twins’ father is Calvin (David Cubitt) — Virgin River’s most notorious villain, who was presumed dead.
It was previously implied that Calvin, the leader of a local drug ring, had died in a boat explosion apparently orchestrated by Melissa.
However, as audiences learned in the season five finale, he was alive.
After returning to Virgin River, he told Charmaine he wanted a relationship with his kids.
Doc agreed to take part in a clinical trial to help with his health.
Vernon ‘Doc’ Mullins (Tim Matheson), who has the eye disease macular degeneration, lost his vision while treating patients following the wildlife.
Realizing the severity of his condition, he decided to enroll in a clinical trial that could help him restore his eyesight.
Elsewhere, Doc received heartwarming news when Mel asked if he would walk her down the aisle at her wedding.
Hope fought to keep her position as mayor.
Hope (Annette O’Toole) spent much of season five recovering from the traumatic brain injury she had sustained.
She also found herself defending herself from some overly concerned town residents working to remove her as mayor.
By the finale, she had been sworn back in.
In other news, Doc asked Hope to renew their wedding vows.
Lizzy discovered she was pregnant.
Lizzie (Sarah Dugdale) and Denny (Kai Bradbury) got back together in season five after briefly breaking up in season four.
She began working as Hope’s health aide — and eventual mayoral assistant — and made the decision to remain in Virgin River instead of moving away.
Her decision was partly influenced by her romance with Denny and their experience of surviving the wildfires together.
At the end of the season, she told Denny that she believed she was pregnant.
Denny wanted to leave Virgin River to go to med school.
Doc’s grandson began settling into life in Virgin River in season five.
His romance with Lizzie got back on track after she decided to stay in the town.
But in an unexpected twist, Denny told Lizzie in the season five finale that he had changed his mind about staying.
At the town carnival, he dropped the bombshell news that he wanted to leave Virgin River to go to med school after all.
But Lizzie had some big news of her own: she was pregnant.
Preacher had a new love interest but was worried about his future.
Preacher began dating Kaia (Kandyse McClure), a firefighter, in season five.
It came after his former flame, Paige (Lexa Doig), decided to skip town with her son Christopher (Chase Petriw) after the traumatic experience the two had with Vince (Steve Bacic).
As audiences will remember, Christopher was kidnapped by Vince because he believed that Paige and Preacher had conspired to kill his twin brother Wes (also played by Bacic) and hide his body.
As a reminder, Paige did accidentally kill her abusive ex by pushing him down the stairs back in season two, then fled while Preacher took care of the body.
Preacher was assured by town detective Mike (Marco Grazzini) in the season five premiere that the police weren’t taking Vince’s claims seriously.
However, the ordeal came back to bite him when Wes’s body was discovered in the woods in the Christmas episodes.
Brie and Brady broke up and started dating other people.
Brady (Benjamin Hollingsworth) had managed to break free from the local drug ring and was enjoying a simpler life in season five.
He began seeing a single mother named Lark (Elise Gatien) who has a young daughter.
However, it turned out that Lark had some ulterior motives. As audiences saw, she had been asked to pursue Brady by her ex, Jimmy (Ian Tracey), and the two were planning on using him in some way.
Meanwhile, Brie (Zibby Allen) began seeing Mike.
Cameron and Muriel took their romance public.
The town’s newest arrival, a doctor called Cameron (Mark Ghanime), enjoyed a blossoming, if not unexpected, romance with Muriel (Teryl Rothery).
They initially kept things under wraps, concerned they would raise eyebrows, but after speaking to Doc, they took their romance public by kissing in front of the other residents at the Labor Day carnival.
