Sid Hershberg tries to make a comeback, but he can't take the pressure and kills himself in front of Kuzak while he is trying to get the attempted murder charges against Nina Emmons dropped. Becker gets caught making out with a client's former wife. Meanwhile, Kelsey faces a mountain of garbage (literally) as she tries to win a contract dispute over an inventor's tea-bag technology. Brackman quarrels with everyone over the annual holiday festivities and McKenzie gives his secretary, Iris, a law book for her future career of studying law. Abby's ex-husband lets their son, Eric, stay with her for the Christmas holidays, and Victor returns to the firm.

Kuzak has difficulty getting over Sid Hershberg's suicide and seems to assume the dead lawyer's identity by taking over Hershberg's cases. Then Kuzak faces a dilemma when his latest client, lacking confidence in the overworked lawyer, arranges an alibi for himself in a vehicular manslaughter case. When Kuzak has an attack of conscious and withdraws from the case, he is thrown in jail for contempt. Meanwhile, Kelsey works to land Cromwell Industries, a key aircraft manufacturer's account. Roxanne comforts Andrew Putnam, a lonely teenage computer hacker and Victor's client, who's hired to fix the firm's telephones.

While McKenzie is dealing with Judge Morris Hood facing bribery charges, he's asked by another senior partner from a national firm in New York, named Marshal Taft & Associates, to merge their two organizations which raises many expectations. Meanwhile, Roxanne and the other secretaries resent the intrusion of two efficiency experts from Marshal Taft. Also, Abby has her first solo court appearance and gets burned for her poor preparation.

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.

Brackman's quarrel with an eccentric neighbor's complaint about his barking dog escalates dramatically when the fight turns ugly and physical. Meanwhile, Kuzak faces a tough opposing counsel when he represents a young woman suing a football jock in a date rape civil suit. Kelsey and Markowitz argue over the sale of her condominium, and Abby tentatively tries a new romance with George Handeman.

Grace receives a lot of hostility from her female colleagues when she defends a college baseball player accused of date rape. Meanwhile, Alex DePalma becomes embroiled in a complex courtroom sting operation headed by Ruby Thomas to nail a corrupt judge. Roxanne and Becker's tentative relationship is nearly capsized by Julie's revelations to her. Also, Markowitz gets Sarah a job at the firm with Kelsey's tentative approval.