Things are a lot different in the community of Sunset Beach in the year 2000. Ben Evans and Meg Cummings have finally married after three years of obstacles; The Richards family is finally in what seems to be in stable condition; love has blossomed for many, and for the first time, everyone appears to be happy. But as many of you know, no one in Sunset Beach can stay happy for long. SUNSET BEACH 2000 will bring a lot of changes for many, new battles for love, and lots of intrigue. Enjoy!

Warning: If you haven’t read the episodes yet, some of this contains spoilers!

CHARACTERS:

The Cummings Family

MEG CUMMINGS-EVANS (played by Susan Ward, 1/3/00-present): Meg has finally married the love of her life, Ben Evans, a wealthy businessman.

BEN EVANS (played by Clive Robertson, 1/3/00-present): Ben is a very loving and caring man who is devoted to his wife, Meg.

JOAN CUMMINGS (played by Carol Potter, 1/4/00-present): Meg and Sara’s Mid-western mother who spends most of her time supporting her daughters during their crises.

HANK CUMMINGS (played by John Martin, 1/4/00-present): Meg and Sara’s overprotective father.

SARA CUMMINGS (played by Shawn Batten, 1/4/00-present): Meg’s sister who is engaged to Casey, but a woman from Casey’s past may get in the way of their future together. Sara has recently discovered that she is adopted and has had a hard time accepting it.

KEITH CUMMINGS (played by Forbes March, 2/25/00-3/8/00 and Shane McDermott, 3/13/00-present): Meg and Sara’s younger brother, who just finished graduated college and comes to Sunset Beach with his fiancée, Jessica, who is the new managing director of the Liberty Corporation. Forbes March originated the role of Keith, but was let go because he didn’t quite suite the role.

The Richards Family:

OLIVIA RICHARDS (played by Lesley-Anne Down, 1/3/00-present): A recovering alcoholic who is devoted to her children; Gregory’s ex-wife.

GREGORY RICHARDS (played by Sam Behrens, 1/3/00-present): Gregory is still trying to regain control of what is his. After learning that Francesca, who he had shot, was still alive, he went to England, and plotted with Christina and Francesca and they hope to bring down the Richards family. It appears that Gregory and Francesca do not have any ill feelings about what happened. ANNIE DOUGLAS-RICHARDS (played by Sarah Buxton, 1/3/00-present): Gregory’s current wife, though they will soon be divorced; she is in love with Jude; Annie seems to have changed her scheming ways, but still can’t help her burning desire for Cole.

CAITLIN RICHARDS-DESCHANEL (played by Kam Heskin, 1/3/00-2/21/00 and Vanessa Dorman, 2/24/00-present): Gregory and Olivia’s daughter who is married to Cole; begins to realize her strong feelings for Jude. Kam Heskin was replaced by the original Caitlin (Vanessa Dorman) when Heskin left to pursue a feature film career.

COLE DESCHANEL (played by Eddie Cibrian, 1/3/00-present): A former jewel thief, Cole loves his wife and his son (who is also Olivia’s) more than anything; becomes attracted to Annie.

SEAN RICHARDS (played by Randy Spelling, 1/3/00-present): A young college student in love with Emily.

CHRISTINA BLAKE-PRENTISS (played by Joan Collins [Alexis, Dynasty], 1/7/00-present): Olivia’s older sister, who came to Sunset Beach posing as their mother, Iris. She wanted to avenge the murders of her and Olivia’s parents, but has dropped her vendetta. Though she is plotting against the Richards with her daughter, Francesca and Gregory

FRANCESCA PRENTISS VARGAS (Lisa Guerrero Coles, 3/3/00-present): Believed to have been murdered by Gregory a year earlier, it turns out that Francesca has been in England with her mother, Christina, Olivia’s sister and plotting revenge on the Richards with her and Gregory. She still wants Cole, and will do anything to accomplish her goal.

The Torres Family:

CARMEN TORRES (played by Margarita Cordova, 1/3/00-present): An eccentric psychic who spends most of her time warning Sunset Beach residents of what their future brings.

RICARDO TORRES (played by Hank Cheyne, 1/3/00-present): Carmen’s oldest son who recently was fired as detective, and must pick up the pieces of his life after his wife, Gabi left him. However, they soon reunite and are happy unless a love from the past gets in the way.

ANTONIO TORRES (played by Nick Kiriazis, 1/4/00-1/6/00; 1/28/00; 2/4/00-present): Carmen’s other son who was brainwashed into stalking and eventually killing Gabi. No longer a priest, Antonio is free to find new romance.

MARIA TORRES (played by Christina Chambers, 1/3/00-3/3/00): Ben’s first wife, who is committed to raising Benjy; she is in Australia living happily with Kyle. She is currently on hiatus and will return soon.

GABI MARTINEZ-TORRES (played by Priscilla Garita, 1/3/00-present): Ricardo’s wife who leaves town in the first episode, but soon finds her way back; was the victim of a stalker, who was Antonio, who was being brainwashed into stalking and eventually killing Gabi. v The Jensen Family

DR. ALEC JENSEN (played by Adam Lazarre-White [Nathan, Y&R], 2/4/00-present): An African American doctor who moves back to Sunset Beach after a five year absence with his wife, Robin.

ALEXIA JENSEN (played by Elise Neal [Scream 2] 2/16/00-present): Robin and Alec’s 20-year-old daughter who finds a bond with Sean.

ROBIN JENSEN (played by Marie-Alise Recasner [Nurse Lynn, Days of Our Lives], 2/4/00-present): Alec’s lovely wife, a nice and caring woman, who becomes the new district attorney. She has a dangerous secret, which connects her to Gregory Richards.

Others:

JUDE CAVANAUGH (played by Sean Kanan, 1/3/00-present): As a detective on the Sunset Beach Police Department, Jude will have his hands full with his cases and Annie, his girlfriend.

DR. RAE CHANG (played by Kelly Hu, 1/7/00-present): Former flame of Casey, who still has feelings for him.

EMILY DAVIS (played by Cristi Ellen Harris, 1/3/00-present): Bette’s daughter who is in love with Sean. v A.J. DESCHANEL (played by Gordon Thomson, 1/5/00-present): Cole’s father who has found love with Bette.

KYLE ENGLISH (played by Charles Grant, 2/14/00-3/3/00): Ross and Tess’s cousin, who fell in love with Maria, and is raising Lisa, Ross’ daughter and Benjy with her. The character is currently on hiatus.

BENJY EVANS (played by Chase Parker, 1/3/00-3/3/00): Ben’s nephew who is currently living with Maria in Australia. The character is currently on hiatus and will return shortly.

VIRGINIA HARRISON (played by Dominique Jennings, 2/4/00-present): Virginia has been locked up for the last year, but is now on the loose and going after Robin’s husband, Alec.

BETTE KATZENKAZRAHI (played by Kathleen Noone, 1/5/00-present): In love with A.J., Emily’s mother and Annie’s aunt.

JESSICA McCLOSKEY (played by Josie Davis [Laurie, Titans], 2/25/00-present): Keith’s vindictive fiancée, who is the new managing director of the Liberty Cooperation, and also has a connection to Ben.

CASEY MITCHUM (played by Timothy Adams, 1/4/00-present): A lifeguard who is Sara’s fiancé, but a love from his past is trying to destroy his relationship with Sara.

BRAD NIKLAUS (played by Michael Strickland, 1/3/00-present): Realized that he was in love with Amy, but lost her in a tragic accident at his house. Now wants to have a romance with Emily.

ELAINE STEVENS (played by Linda Gibboney [Jessica, Generations], 1/7/00-present): Paula and Cole’s mother who has a vast knowledge of Sunset Beach’s legend; determined to win back the love of her life, A.J. Deschanel. Recently learned that Olivia and Bette assisted Del in stealing Cole from her.

PAULA STEVENS (played by Eva LaRue Callahan [Maria, AMC], 1/7/00-present): Ricardo’s former fiancée and Gabi’s half-sister, who is determined to win Ricardo back from her sister. Soon her agenda becomes clear and she will go to any lengths to win Ricardo back.

PAST CHARACTERS:

MICHAEL AND VANESSA BOURNE (played by Jason George and Sherri Saum, 1/18 and 1/20/00): They had a very brief stay on SUNSET BEACH 2000. Vanessa received a job offer and she and Michael moved to New York City. Bourne and Saum are pursuing other projects.

CLAUDINE ENGLISH (played by Lee Meriwether, 2/2/00-3/3/00): Meriwether played the short-term role of Ross and Tess’s mother and Kyle’s aunt who lives in Australia.

LISA ENGLISH (played by Emily Mae Young [Step by Step], 1/5/00-3/3/00): Ross’s five year-old daughter, who currently lives in Australia with her grandmother.

ROSS ENGLISH (played by Paul Satterfield [Tom, Savannah, Paul, GH], 1/5/00-2/24/00): Satterfield replaced an unknown actor in the short-term role of Ross English, a suitor for Maria. However, it turned out that he is Tess’ brother and the two worked together to take Benjy away from Ben and Maria, but soon he went to prison.

TESS ENGLISH MARIN (played by Tracy Lindsey Melchior, 1/14/00-2/24/00): Benjy’s mother who wrecked havoc for Ben, Maria and Meg, but soon met her maker.

AMY NEILSEN (played by Krissy Carlson, 1/3/00-1/24/00): Scheming young woman who was after Sean, but also found that she had feelings for close friend, Brad. She met a tragic end in Brad’s swimming pool and was pronounced dead. The character was written out of the series due to lack of story.

I. General Questions

1. When will episodes be updated?
Now that I’m back in college, it is very hard to say. I will do the best that I can.

2. Why is March not over yet - it's December now?
Well, like I said, I don't have time to write one every day. Though, that was the original plan, but it became way too much to handle.

3. How long do you plan to write this?
As long as I can. I really enjoy writing it, and if I ever get that far the next series will be Sunset Beach 2001. It would help if you sent feedback to sunset_beach00@hotmail.com. This will let me know that you have taken an interest in the story.

4. Your stories are great! Do they just come off the top of your head?
Yes and no. Sometimes ideas come to me. Like Amy burning down the Beach house was a last minute thing because I wanted Sean to blame her for him getting hurt somehow, and then Amy would end up dying. I originally planned a suicide, but I like the way it happened better. I usually have an outline of each episode that I follow when I write it, like which characters will be in it and the major things that are going to happen. The whole stalking storyline was conceived and planned out from the beginning. I was very proud of it! I considered it the best storyline that I’ve done.

5. Are you planning to write off any more characters? I was upset that Michael and Vanessa were written out.
I just didn’t see any story left for these characters. They live happily ever after, but don't worry, they may be back for occasional appearances. Now that Virginia is back, I wouldn’t be surprised if Michael and Vanessa turned up for a face-off. Actually, they will be back in the future for Casey and Sara’s wedding. Of course, they will have words with Ginny. As for other characters, there are a few departures in store, but they are for good reason- to advance story.

II. Storyline Questions

1. Does Gregory have a long-term story?
Gregory’s story is winding down. What happens in the coming episodes will change the lives of the Richards forever.

2. Are you planning to break up Ben and Meg?- I will stop reading if you do!
Not break them up, but test their marriage. They have a great new story coming up.

3. Where is Tyus?
I thought I explained what happened to him, but I guess I didn't so I clarified