Quick summary of all the important details from all Season 3 episodes. (Recap Episode)

"Come Rain or Shine: From Grey's Anatomy to Private Practice" goes into the life of Dr. Addison Montgomery as she transitions from Seattle Grace to Oceanside in the new spin-off Private Practice. The episode also includes the premiere of the Grey's Anatomy music video featuring "Breath In Breath Out," a song by Mat Kearney. The video features clips from the previous three seasons and the episode will feature a glimpse at the new season of Grey's Anatomy.

Cristina and Burke continue to play Uncle until one of them gives in. Derek and Meredith are fighting over the reason for their sleepless nights. Meredith tries to talk to her father about his side of the story. There's tension between Alex and Addison. There is even more tension between Addison and Mark. Addison confides in Callie. Bailey wishes she didn't have to keep a secret from one of the interns. Callie rushes to be with George after she learns that his dad needs an emergency procedure. Izzie may have found 'some good to do' with her inheritance.

After the Chief announces his retirement, rumors begin to circulate on his departure and successor. Mark is determined to leave Seattle for good but Meredith accidentally has him stay after letting him know of the open Chief position. Derek is angry at Meredith for causing Mark to stay in Seattle, but soon realizes that she is not the reason he is really angry. The attending physicians at Seattle Grace Hospital fight to get Richard's attention, but he expresses his disappointment. He also displays his lack of support in Bailey's plan to create a free medical clinic, but she ultimately goes through with her plan when Izzie offers to spend her entire 8.7 million dollar inheritance on the project. George, devastated after his father's death, uses sex to overcome his grief, and eventually proposes to Callie. Cristina and Burke still don't speak to each other, but he breaks the agreement when he proposes to her. Richard endeavors to reunite with his wife, Adele, and decides to retire, only to come home and find his wife with another man.

The race for the Chief's position is on, and the attending physicians, Derek, Burke, Addison and Mark, compete for Richard's affections by trying to help out everywhere possible. The Denny Duquette Memorial Clinic is open for business, but only one single patient shows up. Izzie is disappointed in what she invested Denny's legacy in, and tries to steal patients from the emergency room. Callie and George get back from Las Vegas, announcing their marriage, much to everyone's disbelief. Izzie is not supportive of their marriage and tries to get George to realize the mistake he has made. Meanwhile, Meredith's Alzheimer's-stricken mother, Ellis Grey, experiences a change in her medical condition by becoming lucid for the day. She is disappointed in the mediocrity her daughter has fallen into and begins to despise Derek, blaming him for what happened to the Meredith that used to be "a force of nature". Ellis has to have heart surgery and, despite her wishes, Meredith schedules her upcoming surgery. Richard talks to Ellis and realizes that she is still in love with him, but loses her memory after their talk ends, before Meredith has the chance to tell her how she really feels.

A mass trauma situation, which turns out to be a ferryboat accident, challenges the whole staff of Seattle Grace Hospital. Richard finds difficulty in coping with his separation from his wife and dyes his hair "for the ladies", which becomes an internal joke between Mark, Burke and Derek. Cristina tries to tell Meredith about her upcoming marriage, but doesn't have the strength to. George promises to find a woman's son, who has been separated from her at the accident. The woman refuses to go into surgery until she is assured that her son is alive. Izzie has to take care of a man who got stuck between two cars on the ferry, but nobody helps her due to the large number of injured people. Alex rescues a pregnant woman with severe wounds on her face, and promises to take care of her. Meredith looks after a girl who has been separated from her mother after the accident, but accidentally falls into the water and drowns, with nobody but the little girl as a witness.

Meredith is still underwater, but nobody seems to notice. Her worsening condition makes her rescuing an urgent matter. Derek finds her coat on a man she had helped, and starts looking for her and, much to his shock, the little girl Meredith took care of suggests that she is in the water. Derek saves her, but she is almost dead, due to hypothermia. Izzie has to perform brain surgery on a man stuck between cars, as he begins to experience seizures. She drills holes into his head, perforates his skull and ultimately saves his life before he is rescued and transferred to Seattle Grace Hospital. George lies to the woman whose son he had been looking for, in order to get to surgery, but still doesn't have any luck in locating him. Alex finds no hope in searching for the pregnant Jane Doe's family as she undergoes surgery. The interns find out about Meredith's situation and express their hopelessness. She wakes up in what appears to be limbo and meets her deceased acquaintances.

Everyone is pushing for Meredith to survive, or in this case to be revived. People are still dealing with the fallout from the ferry disaster. A young man named Lucas is having problems with brain-mouth coordination. Someone else dies.

The race between the attending physicians for the Chief of Surgery position heats up after a new competitor enters the fray. They soon realize that the new surgeon, Colin Marlow, was Cristina's professor in medical school and they used to have a long-term relationship. He begins to lie to Burke in order to protect her secret, but is soon faced with the realization that their relationship is on the rocks. George finds out that Callie's family is rich, but she had previously hidden the fact in order to find out whether George loves her for who she really is. Derek treats his former colleague from New York, and forces her to have surgery for brain cancer in order to save her future, no matter what the post-surgery risks are. Alex continues to work with Jane Doe, whose memory doesn't seem to come back. He moves in with Meredith and they have a dinner with her father and stepmother. She seems to connect with Susan, but her relationship with Thatcher seems to be irreparable. Izzie wakes up, realizing that she has slept with George while they were both drunk.