Jeffrey strongly objects when his old nemesis is hired into the plastic surgery department, but they are able to set aside their differences to bring some peace to the mother of a young girl who dies during surgery; a nurse impedes Aaron's plan to allow Karen to die peacefully.

Tensions run high as hard truths ring out when Jeffrey, Danny, Camille, Maggie, Aaron, Arthur and Phillip are quarantined in an empty operating room after a possible exposure to Ebola; Jeffrey and Danny perform an emergency bypass after Arthur has a massive heart attack; Aaron and Camille reconcile.

The staff has its hands full when a man suffering from the after-effects of taking amyl nitrite suffers one complication after another, thereby necessitating multiple surgeries, and Alan takes one for the team right on the nose when he strains credulity in attempting to put the patient's situation in the best possible light; Geri and Jeffrey make peace; Camille contemplates having some plastic surgery after Aaron suffers from performance anxiety on their first post-reconciliation date; Jeffrey agrees to help Laurie put on the Institute's Christmas concert, but the preparations for the event begin to overwhelm her and put additional strain on her already fragile state; Danny and Maggie can't keep their hands off each other; Jeffrey confesses his despair about Laurie's condition and its effect on his life to Camille.

The staff works to save a young boy who was submerged in a frozen lake for several hours; Jeffrey and Geri have a little digestive mishap on their way to pursuing a relationship; Dennis fights to get an experimental treatment for a patient with AIDS, and finds an unexpected ally in Alan.

Dr. Kronk makes a rushed decision to rescue a man by amputating his leg with a chainsaw, only to discover later that the man is a place kicker. A friend of Aaron's with Parkinson's disease comes to him for an operation...bringing his own donor material. A ex-nurse is admitted into the hospital and is given special treatment by Dr. Nyland, whom she used to date.

Billy arrives home just in time to save his dog Gordie from the fire that's engulfed his apartment, and ends up rooming with a reluctant Danny until he can find a new place to live; when a teething Alicia keeps her father up at nights, an exhausted Alan is thrilled when Diane offers to help out; when a racist teenager on the transplant list refuses the heart of a murdered black teenager, the hospital offers it to another candidate, but the boy's mother sues to have the heart transplanted into her son; Alan decides to get back into the social swing by asking Diane out on a date; Kate's inattention to pre-op labs results in the post-op death of the transplant patient; Danny overcomes his dislike of Gordie long enough to notice that he's critically ill, and by acting quickly, saves the dog's life.

A violent storm on Halloween night knocks out the hospital's power immediately following the arrival of several auto-accident victims. Nyland and Atkisson briefly renew their romance. A new doctor shows up for duty, and is immediately put to work delivering a baby.