Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
Cooper survives the shooting at the Great Northern, where a mysterious Giant gives him clues to Laura Palmer's murder. The sawmill fire leaves Shelly and Pete injured, while Leo survives his own shooting. The investigation becomes more urgent when Laura's cousin Maddy is murdered. Cooper eventually remembers the message from his dream: Laura's father killed her. Leland Palmer is revealed as the human host of BOB, responsible for Laura's death and Maddy's killing. Trapped at the sheriff's station, he fatally injures himself under BOB's control; Cooper comforts him as the spirit leaves and Leland dies.
Solving that case does not let Cooper leave town in peace. His former FBI partner, Windom Earle, arrives with a deadly chess game and an interest in the Black Lodge, the supernatural place hidden in the surrounding woods. Cooper falls in love with Annie Blackburn, Norma's sister, but their relationship becomes part of Earle's scheme. After Annie wins the Miss Twin Peaks contest, Earle kidnaps her and takes her toward the Lodge's entrance. A cave map and a circle of sycamore trees give Cooper and Truman a route to follow.
Cooper enters the red-curtained Lodge alone, encountering familiar faces and their disturbing doubles. He offers his soul to save Annie, but BOB intervenes and takes Earle's instead. Cooper then flees a double of himself and is caught before escaping. Outside this confrontation, a booby-trapped safe-deposit box explodes at the bank while Audrey, Pete and Andrew Packard are there. Truman finds Annie and a figure who appears to be Cooper back in the woods. The final hotel scene reveals the danger: Cooper's double has returned, with BOB reflected in the bathroom mirror, leaving the real Cooper's situation unresolved.