Race relations become an issue in the ER when Mark Greene treats two injured teenagers, one black and the other white, and assumes the black kid was a drug dealer. It turns the white kid was the drug dealer and the black kid is a high school basketball star and an innocent bystander. When the black student's older brother confronts him, he begins to question his own impartiality. Carol Hathaway helps a young woman who was drugged with Rohipnol and raped. Benton gets an interesting offer from Dr. Hicks. He also learns that Carla Reece has been admitted to the hospital. Dr. Carter treats a woman with a serious condition but he seems to be the only one who sees it. Mark Greene's daughter ends up spending the day in the ER when her mom has to rush to Florida to deal with a family emergency.

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.

While a film crew is filming in the ER, it's Elizabeth Corday's first day.

His ex-wife Jennifer tells Mark he can't see Rachel until he's got his act together. Reece gets to go home. Al has lost his job.

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!

Another elderly rape victim is brought in. So is the rapist.

Mark finds out Cynthia has moved. Carter's cousin Chase is brought in because of a heroin overdose. Doug and Kerry clash after she found a flaw in his study.

Dr. David Morgenstern returns after a six-month absence recovering from his heart attack. His new outlook on life however has Kerry Weaver questioning his abilities. Elizabeth Corday decides to start a study on the use of artificial blood in the ER, but the only problem is that she fails to discuss it first with Rocket Romano. Doug Ross decides to apply for an ER attending position. Scott Anspaugh suffers a major relapse. Anna Del Amico is confronted by an irate husband who wants his ill wife to terminate her pregnancy. At the free clinic, Carol Hathaway has to deal with the case of an underage high school student who is sleeping with her 40-year-old teacher. Peter Benton hits a pedestrian with a car but Carter helps him out with an important piece of information.

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.

To save rent money, Carter lives in a medical student dormitory as a resident advisor. While visiting Corday at her apartment, Benton meets her father.

The board decides to extend the search for a new ER Chief, leaving Kerry waiting for a decision. Benton visits a doctor who is deaf and he realizes that there is nothing "wrong" with his son. Mark saves the life of a gay prostitute and then tries to get the kid to avoid reckless behavior. Carter loses his Resident Advisor job because of Lucy, then blames her for not going along with his plan to defraud an insurance company, but she inadvertently leads him to shave off a nasty-looking beard he'd been growing. Corday saves two lives and impresses Benton enough that he decides to request she be his intern instead of Dale's. Carol tries to help an elderly Jewish guy find a place to live.

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.

Doug faces possible criminal charges after Ricky Abbott dies when Ross shows Joi how to give Ricky a lethal dosage of medication. Doug is delegated to desk duty, Carol's clinic is shut down for acquiring the P.C.A. machine for Ricky, and Greene and Weaver face future disciplinary action for not reporting Doug's earlier mistakes. Meanwhile, Carter and Lucy discover a mutual attraction, Benton studies with a sign language instructor, and Romano begins his first day as acting ER chief.

When a school bus becomes involved in an accident, Mark assists paramedics with treating injured children; Weaver makes a discovery regarding a colleague.

Carter deals with tenant drama at an apartment tower during a ride-along that later has deadly consequences, Lucy has to hide a cancer diagnosis from an ill woman at the behest of the patient's family, Carol finds out she is pregnant, Kerry reflects on her own family issues when an injured wrestler comes to the ER, and Greene continues to help Mobalage, who may be deported if he can't tell the INS about the abuse he suffered in Nigeria.