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.

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.

Kuzak lets his anti-smoking feelings enter into his latest civil case involving a man dying from emphysema who is suing a tobacco company. Meanwhile, Becker's position as the lawyer for a man being divorced by a wealthy film star calls for some close personal negotiations with the lady. Victor experiences nothing but bad luck after leasing an expensive new sports car that repeating gets broken into and eventually stolen. Jonathan Rollins, a young black lawyer and prospective new associate, pumps Abby for information about the firm. Also, Kelsey's anxiety over her upcoming wedding to Markowitz surfaces in bickering between them.

McKenzie helps a widow and her family try to retrieve the parts of her husband's body after it was accidentally donated to a lab for medical research. Roxanne, constantly on the edge because of her diet and Meyer's constant direct-sales pitches, is arrested for assault and battery after she hits a smug, rich woman who makes a joke about her weight. Meanwhile, Kuzak represents Ray Davis, a young man who is suing a hospital that allegedly let his wife die because they didn't have insurance to cover their medical bills.

Brackman takes temporary charge of the firm after McKenzie passes it to him. Meanwhile, Grace appears before an unsympathetic military tribunal to defend a soldier who refused to shoot at civilians during the December 1989 Invasion of Panama. Corrinne throws Becker out of her house after learning of his infidelities from Roxanne, and Becker retaliates by firing her. Also, C.J. represents a couple and the owners of a reputed haunted house who are suing the real estate broker for selling it to them.

October 29, 1992. Six months after the trauma of the L.A. riots, McKenzie finds himself haunted by a murder case he prosecuted in 1959 of Frank Osgood, and that Morales has reopened the case after another man has confessed to the crime. Meanwhile, Markowitz returns home from the hospital shaky and frightened after his head injuries. Brackman find himself in legal trouble as he tries to fight the new fledgling D.A., the self-assured Dana Romney who's prosecuting him for resisting arrest. An all-new Becker returns from a six-month trip around the globe. Mullaney interviews with the D.A.'s office for a job to relish his renewed relationship with Zoey. Also, Rollins contemplates an caressive new campaign strategy after losing a key endorsement, but may regret it.

Brackman is representing three active senior citizens who are participating in tests for a testosterone patch and who are in danger of eviction from their senior citizens community for disruptive behavior. Meanwhile, Rollins goes to federal court to represent a dangerous, incorrigible inmate who petitions the court to close down the maximum-security prison at China Lake where he is incarcerated. The partners take sides in choosing a new associate, where Morales is strongly opposed to the hiring of Patrick Flanagan, a charming personal friend of McKenzie, by informing of his past history of suspected plagiarizing, planting false evidence, and enduing perjury in a past case which Morales' client was unfairly sent to prison. But when the partners decide to hire Flanagan anyway (due to McKenzie's presence)... Morales decides to quit!