It's the first day of Carter's internship. He has a 36 hour shift and overnight he has to cover the ER, the ICU as well as the surgical patients.

Doug's one-night-stand has a seizure and he brings her to the ER.

It's Susan's last day. Carol stands up for her nurses when one of them is being rotated to another department.

Mark and Kerry have to create a policy regarding HIV-positive employees, which leads to gossip amongst the nurses.

Benton can't keep his mind on the job, Mark and Chuny break up and Carol does what she needs to do regarding the fatal error she has made.

Carol will hear whether her suspension is permanent or not. Mark and Doyle do what they can to get a patient with Down syndrome on a heart transplant list.

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.

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.

Jeanie asks Greg to help Al get into a special AIDS-program at the hospital. Olbes brings in her grandfather, who had a stroke.

It's Carol's birthday, Mark is returning to work after being assaulted and Carla goes into premature labor.

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.

Carter is excited about getting his own med student, and Mark and Carol interview candidates for the desk clerk position.

Cynthia Hooper starts as the new desk clerk. Benton and Carla disagree over whether or not their son should be circumcised. Al gets in an accident at work.

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.

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

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.

Benton and Elizabeth Corday spend the night together. Corday is shocked when Robert Romano suggests that they go out on a date. John Carter and his grandmother clash over the future of Chase Carter; she wants him cared for at home while John feels he should remain institutionalized where he can continue to receive therapy. Carol Hathaway finally gets around to inviting her mother to a Sunday brunch with her and Doug but is a bit surprised when she shows up with her boyfriend. In the ER, Hathaway comforts a man who is going to die from chemical burns.

Benton performs dangerous surgery on a bomb-carrying man who was shot at a factory. Dr. Ross receives some good news that Dr. Weaver doesn't embrace, but she has no recourse. Rachel encourages Dr. Greene to help a horse that is in pain. Jeanie Boulet returns from her vacation.

It's Halloween in the ER, and the medical students throw a party; as a result, Carter decides that Lucy isn't mature enough to take responsibilities. A candidate for the ER Chief position arrives from New York and drives home disappointment for Kerry. Mark screws up when he doesn't recognize a homeless schizophrenic woman is pregnant before treating her. Benton treats Corday to a fun Halloween.

It's Christmas day in the ER. An 18-year-old boy arrives brain-dead, and Carter has to convince his parents to donate his organs, since a 16-year-old girl needs a liver. Benton risks his career by preventing Romano from operating under the influence. Ross and Hathaway have a religious dispute over how to deal with a pregnant 13-year-old. Corday is charmed by a musician who is facing surgery for prostate cancer. Dr. Lee flirts with Mark but turns out to have some major issues and strange story-telling habits.

The rest of the staff finds out that Hathaway is pregnant. Benton begins a custody battle for his son when Carla Reese reveals an intention to marry Roger and take the child to Germany. Weaver rescues a toddler that has been drugged. Carter's protégé is mugged and beaten up. Greene and Corday fall in love.

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.

Benton struggles with the idea of taking a DNA test to determine whether or not Reese is actually his son. As the signs continue to pile up, Kerry and Mark use a fake patient to convince Dr. Lawrence of his Alzheimer's. Carter has trouble persuading a woman from a nursing home fire to sign a DNR for her husband and later is asked to forge charts for a family with no insurance. Carol continues to meddle in Meg's life, having her arrested so that she can be detoxed. Cleo is blamed for an explosion in the suture room but it may actually be Dr. Dave's fault.

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.

Benton is unable to find a job after Romano negatively influences local hospitals. He reluctantly agrees to accept Romano's demeaning offer of a per diem job at County with no benefits. Kovac and Abby are attacked by a mugger with a steel pipe. Injured, Kovac protects Abby and smashes the robber's head on the ground repeatedly.

Maggie contests Abby's attempt to institutionalize her. Weaver treats a few bizarre patients. When Legaspi returns to work after being exonerated of sexual harassment, Weaver tries to reconcile with her. Benton injures his hand while transporting his former teacher to the hospital and must contend with the teacher's wisecracking elderly buddies (TOM BOSLEY and TOM POSTON).

Cleo and Carla clash after Reese gets hurt while in Cleo's care. Weaver and Kovac cannot save the life of a developmentally challenged woman's only caregiver. Abby goes to a therapy session with Maggie. Later, Abby confesses to Maggie that she is afraid to bear children because they might be bipolar like her mother.