Outrageous Fortune chronicles the lives of the West family, who have always done things the less-than-legal way. However, when Dad Wolfgang West gets sent to jail for four years, his family receives a very sharp wake-up call.
Mum Cheryl decides that it is time for her family to get out of the crime game once and for all. No more robbing, ripping people off or lying. However, for this family, breaking the habits of a lifetime is much easier said than done.
“As Judd is getting his guns back, Van is thinking thoughts of suicide. But as Van seems to be returning to normal, Cheryl is unaware of this – especially when Sparky hurls a bomb into the mix. He is seeking a life model, but when Loretta is offered, Sparky says no. He has sniffed that she is with child.
Cheryl wants to get Loretta to a doctor. The reason sets Cheryl and Grandpa at loggerheads: no way is his great grandchild being aborted. Now Van twigs that Loretta is pregnant, and she admits it was conceived at Aurora’s wake. But the doctor’s visit reveals that Loretta is four months pregnant, and no way is Cheryl countenancing a late abortion. Loretta is angered at Cheryl’s double standards, and even more annoyed when Jethro arrives to apply pressure and offer assistance. Grandpa, meanwhile, wants Jethro’s help in forming a lynch mob to bring Hayden Peters to justice. Jethro’s not keen until Hayden’s attitude to the pregnancy news convinces Jethro to join the posse and go to Brisbane.
Van, meanwhile, has agreed to be Sparky’s model: because Sparky claims to have died once and have knowledge of the Other Side. While Van struggles with the peculiar advice of Sparky, he is also clearing out his life and his room, giving away Aurora’s clothes and settling up with people: including Pascalle and Munter.
Loretta by now is fed up to the back teeth with family pressure, as Pascalle vows her support, despite Loretta’s obvious unfitness to be a bridesmaid. But now Loretta finds that Cheryl’s attitude to the late abortion is based on more than morality. She had a baby that died. Loretta is pulled up, but even worse: Van is being sweet and trying to give her his last money, because it’s what Aurora would have wanted.
Now Cheryl, with Judd’s support, makes an offer to care for the baby. Loretta doesn’t reject her out of hand, but when Cheryl talks about how this would be good for Van, who seems so much better, Loretta has a horrible realisation. She rushes home, to find the guns are missing and so is Van. He’s gone off to the forest for some purpose. Freaking, Loretta chases him there and makes her impassioned appeal that Van doesn’t kill himself. But, though she was right in putting the clues together, Van’s journey of redemption, and the wisdom of Sparky, has made him realise that he can’t die yet. And Loretta has also decided that she’ll go ahead with her pregnancy, if only to save Van. As they both resolve to go on, they return to find unlooked for disaster. Bruce has returned from China, where he happened to see a disgusting porn film. Featuring Pascalle. As a result, he can no longer marry her. Pascalle is distraught, but as Loretta points out, the real person to blame is Hayden…
The posse in Brisbane catch up with the man himself. Hayden is still not prepared to take responsibility. So the first punch goes to Jethro.“ www.outrageousfortune.co.nz