Kuzak uses new evidence and a testimony by a very hostile witness to plead for a new trial for Earl Williams. Meanwhile, Victor defends Dr. Michael Dayan, a surgeon being sued for wrongful death by a woman after he refused to perform emergency surgery on her injured husband who was infected with AIDS, and the opposing counsel, Mark Gilliam, who himself secretly has AIDS, tries to get the jury and Victor to look on the positive side of a man with the disease. The firm is rocked by the resignation of Leland McKenzie after 25 years, but the scramble to succeed him starts immediately with Brackman, Markowitz and Rosalind pitted against each other and Rosalind wins due to her skill of manipulation and deception.

Kuzak represents a gay former policeman suing a journalist who "outed" his homosexuality without permission. After Rosalind resigns from the firm, McKenzie seeks another star litigator and hires Grace Van Owen who resigns her judgeship. Meanwhile, Benny becomes jealous when Alice kisses another man and breaks off their engagement. Becker proposes to Corrinne, but ends up having a one-night-stand with his temporary secretary, Gwen Taylor.

Brackman appears on the TV game show "Wheel of Fortune," and ends up getting a date with Vanna White. Meanwhile, C.J. and her old friend from law school, the seedy, alcoholic, chain-smoking Tommy Mullaney, take a civil case of representing a man dying from lung cancer, caused by second-hand smoke, suing a tobacco company. Victor represents a murder victim's sister suing the physician who did not report evidence of her repeated spouse beatings. After having dinner together, Markowitz experiences romantic feelings for Gwen and when Kelsey finds out, she forces him to move out of their house. Also, Mullaney is hired on commission at the firm for his court performance.

Dave Meyer comes back to the firm as a receiver and has some drastic recommendations to keep the firm solvent. Meanwhile, Brackman takes a rare litigation case of representing Susan Convers, a transsexual model who was fired after her sex change operation was discovered. Mullaney represents the family of a deceased college football player suing the university because he was allegedly made suicidal by steroid usage. Benny suffers a depression-related breakdown after witnessing the verbal fighting at the firm in which Kuzak drops his lawsuit. At the end, Kuzak, Grace and Victor leave the firm for good and Abby and Rollins come back, where Abby asks C.J. out on a date.