Pilot episode for the TV series introduces the lawyers and employees of McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak, a Los Angeles law firm, in dealing with their courtroom cases and personal matters out of the courthouse. While the entire office deals with the unexpected death of one of the founding senior partners, Norman Chaney, junior partner Michael Kuzak reluctantly takes on the defense of a wealthy and spoiled young man, accused with two friends, of raping a woman dying from leukemia. While intern Abby Perkins deals with her abusive alcoholic husband, divorce lawyer Arnie Becker takes advantage of his latest client caught up in her divorce. Public defender Victor Sifuentes is also offered to join the firm, while the ruthless managing partner, Douglas Brackman, deals with a surprising revelation from his new secretary.

Victor suffers through a dinner with the Brackmans when they want him to romance (and marry) their Hispanic maid who is threatened with deportation. Meanwhile, Markowitz finds himself in the middle of a fierce tax-audit between sleazy millionaire Irving Lewis, and alcoholic IRS agent Marv Fletcher in which Markowitz resorts to lying about Lewis' tax claims. Kuzak's personal-injury suit against an amusement park becomes complicated by his young client's greedy, adoptive father. Also, Abby's personal troubles take a turn for the worse when she learns that her husband has kidnapped their three-year-old son Eric.

Foster Troutman, a charming polygamist, causes an uproar at the firm over Becker and Markowitz's tax audit case of him and his 11 wives, and he offers Markowtiz a new sexual maneuver on pleasing a woman while Becker is attracted to his lawyer, Lynette Pierce. Meanwhile, Grace faces the difficult task of prosecuting Christopher Appleton, a gay man afflicted with AIDS, who's accused of the mercy killing his similarly infected lover. Abby faces an agonizing ordeal with Kelsey in search for her son when she receives news of an battered anonymous child's death. The other partners quarrel over who will get Chaney's desirable office, and with a coin toss, Markowitz wins.

Kuzak stands firm against capital punishment for a convicted rapist/murderer, despite persuasive arguments that his client will kill again if released pending a new trial. Meanwhile, Becker becomes caught in the middle of his parents divorce action when both his mother and father ask him to represent them against the other and Roxanne eventually rescues him from the mess of this situation. McKenzie indirectly forces Victor to withdraw from an unpopular case in which Victor threatens to quit. Grace hands Mark Gilliam, Appleton's lawyer, new defense grounds for a new trial in the AIDS mercy-killing case. Also, Abby brings a stray dog to work which causes nothing but problems, and Brackman eventually adopts it.

Grace pushes hard for the death penalty against a convicted gang member and murderer of a prison guard in which she gets rewarded with threats against her life by his gang members. Meanwhile, Victor becomes intimately involved with Jocelyn Pennebaker, a dentist he defended in a malpractice suit. Becker suffers trying to go on a date with his new temporary secretary while Roxanne is away on jury duty and holds firm against the acquittal of a man facing an assault and battery charge.

Paula Lights, Rollins old law school girlfriend, asks him to represent her suing the state for her constitutional right to be frozen alive for she has an inoperable brain tumor. Meanwhile, Victor pleads with Grace to prosecute an actor who raped Allison. Becker gets an offer by Sheldon Gatz, an old friend and Dave Meyer's lawyer, to join another firm doing entertainment law and he decides to make a change. Roxanne goes on stage at a nightclub during amateur night to test her performing skills, and Rosalind Shays officially joins the firm.