1994 was a tough year for Robert as his uncle nearly killed himself. His little sister, Victoria Anne Sugden, has a hole in her heart and is hospitalized. Sarah, his mother, in the hospital suffers from depression and has an emotional affair to get back at Jack. Meanwhile, Jack was left with a young Robert and as he tries to save his family, things go wrong and the year hurts Robert a great deal. When things start to look up for the family, Sarah gets a job and Jack thought she is having an affair. Robert feels alone as he has no friends at school and his father doesn't listen to his issues and this leads him to running away to Derek Simpson, leaving Jack and Sarah worried half to death. He grows a close bond to Derek Simpson after spending three days in the cold. Derek is a hermit who was in the Army. He later returns home through Derek's request, who goes to prison. This leads to Robert changing a bit.