Brackman accidentally becomes the victim of a gay-bashing incident and tries to keep the incident a secret despite pleas from a gay former college friend to testify against his attacker. Kelsey is defending a logging company owner being sued, along with an environmental activist, by a maimed sawmill worker after an accident that involved the activist spiking redwood trees. Meanwhile, Mullaney goes out on a limb, with Zoey's help, to defend a woman who wants to plead guilty for possession of drugs in her apartment, knowing her boyfriend left it there. C.J.'s father, a veteran stage and screen actor, arrives in town from England on a drunken bender and sprays salt on family wounds.

Due to the stress of her return to work, Zoey opts to be out of the D.A.'s office and decides to leave L.A., and Mullaney. Meanwhile, Rollins' campaign sinks lower and lower as the election draws near. Becker looks inward to his future, but Roxanne sees just the same old Becker. In jail, Brackman learns about his new life from behind the bars. Markowitz is slow to heal and frustrations set in for him and Kelsey. Mullaney becomes aroused in his first case for the D.A.'s office in prosecuting a man in a child-abuse case, who is being defended by a nun lawyer.

Morales and Becker are defending a sexual-bondage dominatrix who is being charged for the murder of Eric Schuller and the revelations of Schuller's connections with the prostitution world shake World Wide studios. Meanwhile, Rollins finds himself in the uncomfortable position of defending a sculptor who's right to freedom of expression and his racist work which has caused civil unrest. Brackman and his jailbird ghostwriter disagree over his "autobiography." Also, Gwen's medical history becomes an issue with the firm's insurance carrier, while the unseen stalker continues to spy on her.