While on their helicopter flight rotation, Mark and Susan find an injured family of four who they bring to the ER.

Encouraged by Carol, Mark finally asks Susan out. Benton tries to save a boy, despite the fact Doug thinks he's brain dead.

Carol has to fire two of the nurses. Meanwhile, Gant feels Benton is too hard on him.

Benton tries to find out if everything's OK with Carla's baby. Carter tries to get a man operated, despite the fact Anspaugh thinks he will die no matter what.

Benton takes a day off to help Carla. Carter finds out Edson falsified a chart.

Anspaugh is furious when Carter tells him he wants to quit surgery. Charlie is brought in with an overdose. Mark keeps struggling with his beating.

Mark treats an old lady who has been brutally raped. Carter's grandmother visits Carol's clinic. After he's touched by Benton, a blind man can see again!

Because of benzene that's been spread, the ER has to close. Weaver gets felled and Carter has to take the lead.

When a compatible bone marrow donor cannot be located, Scott Anspaugh agrees to undergo a new round of chemotherapy, even though there appears to be little point. Doug Ross suggests to Jeanie Boulet that Scott may have agreed to the therapy because of her. Mark Greene has taken on the task of organizing the annual ER banquet only to find that Jerry, on whom he had been relying for much of the preparation, hasn't quite delivered. John Carter confronts his grandmother when he learns that she has cut off funding for Carol Hathaway's free clinic. In the OR, Peter Benton has a major confrontation with Dr. Morgenstern, pushing him aside and taking over an operation. Greene and Weaver criticize Doug Ross over his handling of a sick child and her mother.

At the hospital daycare, one of the child-care workers suggests to Peter Benton that he may want to have baby Reece's hearing checked. Doug Ross dodges a bullet by admitting upfront his error in detoxifying a baby without permission. Having been acting Chief for over 6 months, Kerry Weaver puts her name forward to replace David Morgenstern as Chief of Emergency Medicine only to be told she will have to compete for the job. The doctors treat a couple of Elvis impersonators who sky dive into Lake Michigan. When drugs go missing from the ER, John Carter suspects Anna Del Amico's ex-boyfriend.

Carter and Weaver become unlikely roommates. Lucy is having problems with Carter, and Greene picks up on their squabbling. Corday works long shifts which leads to her exhaustion and a critical medical error, causing a rift with Dr. Anspaugh and problems for Benton. Greene has unpleasant flashbacks when he's hazed by the well-meaning paramedics. Jeanie worries when she and Doug treat a young boy whose childlike mother clearly depends on his 6-year sister to make all decisions. Kerry rediscovers her joy of practicing medicine and decides not to pursue the open ER Chief job, which goes instead to a Dr. Amanda Lee.

A man arrives at the ER with his gravely-injured daughter then runs out, presenting a critical situation because he's the only match for her blood type. While Carter and Lucy alternately bicker and work well together as they try to track down the father, blood-supply snafus spur Benton to perform an unprecedented operation on the girl.

Corday faces M&M where the board was discussing the mistake that Corday made after she gave the wrong dosage to a patient. She decides to take the offensive and let the board know how wrong it is for her or any other doctor to work 36 hours. The board decides to do nothing about it, and she later decides to amicably end her relationship with Benton. At the hospital arrives Ruth Johnson who was born 100 years ago in that same hospital and shares some experiences with Carter. Carol is horrified by the truth behind a young boy's fatal shooting.

When Anspaugh decides to retire as chief of staff and return to surgery, he appoints Romano as his replacement. Greene expresses reservations about the decision, but Weaver does not support Greene. Romano makes Weaver the new chief of emergency medicine.

After his mother's funeral, Dr. Greene comforts his father (JOHN CULLUM) in San Diego. In Chicago, Romano surprises Corday by appointing her associate chief of surgery. Corday treats Elaine, Carter's lover, for breast cancer.

Kovac and Haleh take care of Hathaway's twins so the new mother can finally get some rest. The job transfer for Carla's husband does not get approved allowing Reese to stay in Chicago. Lucy endeavors to get a heart transplant for a young woman and goes to Romano's house begging him to perform the surgery.

Lucy's patient finally gets the call to receive a heart transplant, but there are complications. Greene interferes in a gay couple's domestic situation. Corday tricked her patient who murdered several women and now he's being transferred to a county jail.

Carter and Lucy are discovered and the staff struggles to save them and go on with normal patient care.

Chen's patient refuses to reveal to his daughter that she might have inherited a terrible disease from him. Weaver defies Romano's authority and performs a procedure that gets her suspended. An available kidney causes friction between Corday and Kovac as they decide which one of their patients will get it.

Weaver returns to the emergency room after a self-imposed sabbatical of three weeks, wondering how her newfound lesbian identity will affect her workplace relationships. Having purposely allowed a mass murderer to die, Greene must keep the secret amidst the scrutiny of his superiors.

A new medical student, Michael Gallant, arrives in the ER. He's supposed to be working under Dr. Carter's supervision but John's grandmother is unwell. Elizabeth Corday is convinced that other doctors are refusing to work with her as a result of the mysterious deaths. Mark Green thinks she's overreacting but she's determined to find out what happened to her patients. Abby and Luka argue over the attention he is paying to a trainee nurse's aide. Dr. Benton finds himself in court to retain custody of his son, Reese. Carter and Susan Lewis treat a young woman who is both a law and a medical student. Green has to collect his daughter at school when she is suspended.

An accidental overdose brings Drs. Green and Corday's baby into the ER.

Greene confronts Corday when she orders Rachel out of their home; Abby tries to protect a battered neighbor who refuses to press charges against her husband.

Abby fears the worst when her brother Eric suddenly disappears. He is actually AWOL and she forges Carter's name to obtain his medical records. Carter and Chen treat a frightened Chinese immigrant nanny, Tong-Yi, whom they suspect was impregnated by her employer. Meanwhile, new surgical resident Paul Nathan, who is struggling to overcome a physical disability (Parkinson's disease), tries to help in the emergency room but his fellow doctors do not appreciate his advice to patients. Unable to quench his sexual appetite, Kovac also gets into trouble in his professional life, despite his admirable resolve to find an eye specialist to treat a young gunshot victim. Gallant and fellow medical student Erin Harkins engage in an escalating competition of medical knowledge. And Weaver gets some much-needed good news.

On Thanksgiving Day, a helicopter crash outside the ER leaves several injured. Alex tries to bring Sam and Luka together.

While examining a young boy, Pratt finds a suspicious gash across his chest and calls Wendall for a consult. Kovac and Pratt examine a man who was shot when he confronted his boss with a gun. Jake tries to convince Abby to date him despite his being her student.

Neela's marathon shift begins to affect her, and her demeanor isn't helped when she learns the med student she is mentoring is abandoning her specialty.