Mark's wife arrives in the ER with the news that she has passed her bar exams but several members of the staff interrupt their intimate celebration. Greene treats an elderly woman whose husband isn't ready to let her go. It's been eight weeks since Hathaway's attempted suicide, but Doug Ross has yet to bring himself to visit the woman he went out with for two years. Susan Lewis saves a newborn who is brought into the ER choking. She also argues with the psychiatric attending who refuses to admit a patient suffering from dementia. Carter finds himself having to care for a group of German tourists who are suffering from food poisoning. He also treats a young flirt with a rash. Benton treats a recent surgery patient and finds his correct diagnosis overturned by the man's physician. Susan Lewis treats a family struck by a drunk driver. The husband and daughter will survive but there is little hope for the woman. The drunk driver is also brought in suffering from only a few scratches.

Carol Hathaway returns to work after her suicide attempt. Doug Ross still feels guilty about what happened. An ER patient found walking the streets takes to singing, constantly. Susan Lewis has a run-in with the cardiologist on duty, Dr. Kayson, when he disagrees with her treatment of a heart attack victim. At a case review session, she gets very little support from her colleagues. She also treats a woman who is dying of leukemia and who has good advice for Hathaway. Greene treats a woman who has obviously been beaten by her husband but can't get to agree to get help.

Susan Lewis has a run-in with Dr. Jack Kayson, the cardiology attending, when he accuses her of not providing him with all necessary information on a patient who subsequently died. He makes it very clear that Susan will bear all responsibility for his death. Her sister Chloe informs her that she and her boyfriend are moving to Texas. John Carter is still frustrated by Peter Benton's apparent lack of interest in teaching him anything but a new go for it attitude leads to an invitation to assist in a surgical procedure. Benton's sister suggests to him that the time has come for them to put their mother in a care home.

Dr. Greene gets offered a new job by Morgenstern.

Kayson, a married man, tries to start a romance with Susan by asking her to dinner. Deb unknowingly eats LSD-laced chocolates. Carol takes an interest in a Russian girl abandoned in the ER.

Carol Hathaway goes ahead with her plans to adopt Tatiana, but her past history makes her ineligible. Benton continues to trade shifts so he can spend time with his mother but it all catches up with him and he has a run-in with Dr. Hicks. Doug Ross treats an abused child. Green, Benton and Carter take extraordinary measures to save a man they later learned had signed a DNR. A consultant arrives to study procedures in the ER, but all is not quite what it seems. Mark Green's wife Jen has an important announcement. Benton's mother has a serious accident when he falls asleep on the couch.

On a fateful Mother's Day, several staffers in the ER face possible life-changing events. Susan Lewis' sister Chloe gives birth to a beautiful - and healthy - baby girl. Things start to go wrong however when their mother Cookie - who had agreed to take in Chloe and the baby - suddenly decides she's done enough and Susan will have to take care of it. Carter turns down an offer for an ER sub-internship in the hopes that he'll get an offer in surgery. Dr. Hicks has news for him however. Benton's mother takes a turn for the worse. Carol Hathaway is overwhelmed with the final preparations as her wedding day approaches.

While victims of a gang shootout are being brought in, Carter is late and a new group of third year medical students arrives.