Sid Hershberg, a mentally unstable, overworked and underpaid attorney, begs Kuzak to take over one of his many pro bono cases of Nina Emmons, a woman jailed for over five months on an attempted murder charge. Meanwhile, Becker tries to persuade the firm to hire some tall man as a temporary associate to bolster the office basketball squad for an important game after Victor leaves. Kelsey fumes while Markowitz redecorates his new office, but her mood changed when he gives it to her as a gift. Abby tries to start her life over again when her ex-husband returns with their son. Also, Grace is put on night court duty for an indefinite period.

Grace returns to day court and has problems keeping the prosecution of a man accused of stealing bull semen on the serious side. Meanwhile, Victor goes beyond professional bounds in urging a troubled family to seek redress for the death of their son in a car accident. Becker insists to Carolyn, his latest client, on aggressively pursing evidence against her husband's marital infidelities despite her objections, and then regrets it when she attempts to shoot her husband in Becker's office. Abby assists with Victor's case while searching for a suitable escort for a family wedding and winds up with an unexpected volunteer: a district attorney named George Handeman, who grilled her during her first court appearance.

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.

Brackman's sudden self-consciousness about his baldness prompts anxiety in the other men of the firm as well. Meanwhile, Grace's brush with death at the hands of a gang member leaves her fearful and resentful of Kuzak's and everyone's protective attitude. Roxanne inspires strength in Becker's timid client, but warns her about rebound romances. Also, Victor gains a courtroom admirer after he defends a man's use of marijuana as a religious sacrament.

Grace gets a lot of criticism from her co-workers at the D.A.'s office when she willingly agrees to prosecute three lawyers accused of sexual battery against an underage stripper. Meanwhile, Abby loses the Rohner vs. Gradinger case to Rollins, and Kelsey and Markowitz finally set a wedding date. A despondent Becker tries to raise his spirits by redoing Benny in his own image. Also, Brackman worries about having AIDS after his tryst with Rhonda Vasek.

Brackman unwittingly gets arrested for solicitation by an inexperienced undercover policewoman who mistakes his reading of a Japanese restaurant menu for come-ons. Meanwhile, Roxanne tells Kuzak and Becker that she is willing to reject immunity to stand by Jimmy during his trial for insider trading. Victor represents Lorna Landsberg, a food critic being sued by a restaurant owner after she gave a scathing review of the place that cost it heavily. Grace receives and accepts a lucrative partnership offer with an old friend from law school. At the end, Kelsey tells Markowitz about her part in Roxanne's insider stock tips, which takes a sudden turn when they are both mugged by an infamous, well-dressed robber known as "the yuppie bandit."

Victor begins a complicated case concerning the undo influence of a younger woman over a much older man. Grace's return to the D.A.'s office is marked by dark humor over her prosecuting a man who clubbed a swan to death on a golf course. Meanwhile, Kuzak defends Megan Penny, a woman who killed a foreign diplomat Wilfred Arguayo who raped her and walked away because of his diplomatic immunity. Meanwhile, Benny fears for his job when he accidentally shreds an important file. Also, Brackman continues his secret affair with Rusty, until Erroll finds out.

Grace is prosecuting Lyle Torrey, a young gang member accused of killing two policemen. As the case progresses, Grace stumbles upon a conspiracy by her boss, Bruce Rogoff, to get a conviction and he tells her to look passed an important loop hole that could free the suspected cop-killer. Meanwhile, Roxanne involves Becker in her domestic problems when she asks him to represent Dave Meyer's sister, Madeline, in a divorce from her husband. Kelsey is representing a 13-year-old boy suing his father for slapping him. Also, Abby resigns from the firm to open up her own private practice.

Grace reveals a technicality that could free convicted cop killer Lyle Torrey. But a certain police officer, named Lt. Dolan, tries to prevent Grace from getting Torrey released pending a new trial. Becker forms a partnership with Dave Meyer in trying to make their own do-it-yourself-divorce video tape to market to the masses. Meanwhile, Abby grows more attracted to Lt. Ringstrom and they finally begin a torrid affair. Also, Kelsey and Markowitz meet with a possible birth mother to adopt her baby.

Victor represents an Iranian immigrant woman suing the U.S. government whose husband died on the A300 Airbus jet that was shot down by the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf on July 3, 1988. Victor's case leads to arguments with others in the firm, and with McKenzie as well. Meanwhile, Roxanne and the other secretaries rebel over Brackman's strict lunch hours. Also, Grace is offered a position for judge on the bench and immediately faces a major decision of whether or not to sentence a teenage boy to life in prison for murder.

Rosalind Shays returns with an equally ruthless and manipulative lawyer, Jack Sollers, to sue the firm for sexual discrimination. Markowitz suffers a heart attack during the trial and is put on leave. Meanwhile, Kuzak faces Darron Holloway, an angry, civil-rights black activist inciting the press and the public while he takes the case of defending Brian Chisolm, a white policeman accused of shooting a black youth. Also, Roxanne has more problems with her father, Murray, when she tells him that he has Alzheimer's Disease.

Abby takes on the sad case of a couple trying to return their violent and mentally unstable adopted, seven-year-old son to the orphanage. Meanwhile, Gwen Taylor, Becker's former temp and final fling before his marriage to Corrinne, comes back to work at the firm full-time as Markowitz's secretary and Becker tries to keep distant to her at any cost. While Kuzak and Rollins debate on their handling of the Chisolm case, Grace asks the no-nonsense Judge Richard Armand to take over as judge for the case, while Holloway finds a witness for the prosecution.

Rollins is arrested and brutalized by the police when he's spotted jogging in a white neighborhood, which quickly turns into a complex political situation involving D.A. Bruce Rogoff and the LAPD. Mullaney then goes to Zoey to help find any evidence of a payoff involving Rollins's beating. Meanwhile, C.J. travels to Arizona to a Navaho court to represent a woman suing her Navaho ex-husband who kidnapped his half-Caucasian son to seek a ruling to raise his infant son on his reservation. Back in Los Angeles, Becker takes out his frustrations from his divorce on a newlywed couple asking for a prenuptial agreement, much to Gwen's observation after she is hired as Becker's new secretary. Also, Brackman becomes frustrated of the tabloid stories about him after Vanna White leaves him.