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.

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.