Change is in the air with the start of a new school year in Dillon, where Coach Eric Taylor finds it harder than ever to cope with family, work and community pressures, thanks to the arrival of an affluent new family: the McCoys, who quickly establish themselves among the town’s power clans. Eric’s wife, Tami, also is challenged by her new position as Dillon’s high school principal, a job that requires her to cope with a shrinking staff and budget as well as increasingly thorny student issues.