Day 1 finds the celebrities moving into their new home in Hollywood Hills, while a few of them are already worried about making it for 30 days. While the patients learn what their responsibilities will be, Steven Adler arrives apparently stoned. Dr. Drew is called in when heroine is found in Steven's bag, along with drug paraphernalia. Dr. Drew tells the patients that this will be unlike rehab and that they will be on their own...supposedly in a safe haven from drugs and alcohol.
Day 2 of the free living finds the new members shook up over Steven Adler's needles and heroine being carried in and having a dispute with Jenn, head of the house. Jenn takes the group grocery shopping, which she is surprised to learn that some have never done before. Jenn decides she would allow a barbecue for friends and family, which gets out of hand when the guests refuse to follow their rules, and an ugly confrontation with huge actor Tiny Lister. At 8pm they power went out, so the party ends and Jenn is sure that Steven has found some more heroine and is high, leading to a house search. At 4am Jenn is forced to call Steven's wife to remove him from the sober house. Meanwhile, he becomes dangerous from the heroine high that Jenn reluctantly calls 911 for the police to help.
Night two of Sober House and Steven is already caught shooting up heroine again and is given a choice of heading back to Las Encinas or to jail. Dr. Drew explains to the others back at the house that Jen did what was expected of her and not to feel upset wit the decision she made. Despite all that has happened, this will be the first day in which the other members will be let away from the house to find a job. Mary receives a visit from her boyfriend/manager and encourages Mary to hit the clubs and do some drinking. Seth leaves the others at the club and later leaves a phone message, which causes everyone to worry where he is.
It's now been several days since Steven's relapse and his treatment has ended. Now he has asked to make a return to the Sober House. But the others debate whether they want him back and come to the conclusion that he should only return if Jenn says so. Dr. Drew wants to show Steven a video of his relapse and see what he had done to the group. The second day finds a new member joining the house, Andy Dick. Amber receives a text from a guy she is interested in and is invited to a party. But she is afraid of a relapse too. Once there, Amber becomes disappointed when her friend leaves her side and tries to fend off that feeling of using again.
Day 10 at the house finds yet another relapse since Amber failed to return from a party until morning. Andy has his first one on one with Dr. Drew, explaining that this is his last chance. Meanwhile, Mary and Nikki become very close after she defends her during an argument with David over her phone. Jenn takes Mary, Rodney and Nikki surfing, an activity which is close to Jenn's heart. Group process has Andy explaining what it's like in jail. Mary and Seth decide to go clubbing and trouble ensues when David's bad talk about Seth gets back to him, causing Seth to run off. As the cast worries about his whereabouts, Seth sends a cryptic, creepy message for all to see on MySpace. Seth is clearly high and leaves clues as to where the cast can find him. Jenn decides it's not best for the house to go searching for him in these creepy places.
Seth is now listed as officially missing after failing to return from a night out with a few of the house residents. Although he left some cryptic messages on his computer, Jenn feels its not safe to go searching for him during the night. Mary decides to call a friend of her's who knows Seth well, to see if he had come to her house. Jessica admits that Seth was there in the early morning and took 300 Zanax from her and was also on heroin, crack, and X. Jenn calls Will for backup as she goes to Jessica's house with Mary to see if he is still there, but make a shocking discovery. Meanwhile, Rodney opens up in a one on one with Dr. Drew about his beatings from 15 years earlier. Seth finally makes a call and explains where he is and how he got there. Jenn begs Seth to let her pick him up, after he explains what he has been through, but runs away. Jenn returns and has an emotional conversation with the rest of the housemates. Seth makes a call to Dr. Drew.
Day 18 at the Sober House finds all the residence awaiting Seth's return from the PRC after suffering a three-day drug and alcohol relapse. While most are glad to seem him back and safe, Andy is upset that Seth doesn't realize what damage he has done. Mary has her one-on-one with Dr. Drew, and explains how she loved ballet. After leaving the session she goes to visit her former ballet teacher. Dr. Drew worries about Nikki. Although her sobriety seems to be going well, she is unmotivated in her music career. He introduces her to Zander, a guitarist, and Steven is recruited as the drummer for a jam session. The gang is brought to play paintball by Jenn, who becomes upset when Seth breaks a rule and injures her leg with the paintball gun. Back at the house, Jenn is made uncomfortable when Seth hands her a piece of crack, the first she has held in over 2 1/2 years since her sobriety. She meets with Dr. Sophy, who decides to create a play for her and Andy to discuss what her life has been...impressing Jenn with his work. Nikki is not in a good place the next morning when she gets a call saying that her best friend is near death from AIDS, and that her cousin shot and killed his stepfather after a drunken brawl. All this leaves Nikki in no condition to record music. Mary has a dinner with her boyfriend/manager to clear the air about the way she and the others are treated by him. Mary also packs to attend Swingfest, an event she needs to be at since she needs money to get out of debt.
With only a few days left at the house, Mary shocks everyone by deciding to follow her manager/husband down to Florida for Swingfest. Upon her return, Jen administers a drug test on Mary, who says she was clean but was also tempted, feeling she had cheated because she still feels like she can fall off the wagon in a blink of an eye. Andy makes amends, starting with his former best friend, who still has trust issues to work out with him. Rodney reveals that he wants to open his own sober house, but it will need renovating first.
The final day at sober house does not go well for Steven, who fails his drug test. Dr. Drew decides to hold an intervention for Steven, who has had enough of recovery and just wants to leave. but by failing his test he has also broken the court ordered bail arrangement, which says he must either go back for treatment, or head to jail. Rodney receives a surprise from Dr. Drew when he helps reconstruct his home so he can open his own sober house, a way in which Dr. Drew believes will keep Rodney sober too. Andy meets with his son Lucas, and tries to apologize for all his past mistakes, which Dr. Drew insists is not enough. Amber makes a decision about her living situation after leaving the house. Seth meets with funk legend George Clinton, for a chance at getting his career back on track. Two days before leaving the house, the crew will go on a hilarious fishing trip. And the final day finds Jenn waking everyone so that they can say their goodbyes.
Jenny's obsessive enthusiasm drives everyone crazy during an outing.
Jennifer lectures the group about the slovenly state of the house and the apathy of the residents.