El jove doctor novaiorquès Joel Fleischman es veu obligat a exercir la medicina a Cicely (Alaska) contra la seva voluntat.

L'homosexualitat de Whitman crea un conflicte entre Chris i Maurice. Joel intenta que l'oncle d'Ed, sanador de la tribu, se sotmeti a un tractament de medicina convencional.

Al seu testament, Soapy llega les seves terres a Joel i a Maggie. Ed descobreix la seva veritable vocació: el cinema.

Shelly i Holling decideixen casar-se. Maurice i Joel negocien amb uns inversors japonesos a base de jugar a golf.

Elaine, la núvia de Joel, arriba per visitar-lo, però hi ha epidèmia de grip russa a Cicely.

Shelly rep la visita del seu marit Wayne. Un bony al pit de Rick hi desperta el temor a la «maledicció de Maggie». Ed no sap imitar l'estil de Hollywood.

Maurice adopta Chris, però aquest no se sent del tot a gust amb el paper. Holling vol enfrontar-se a Jessie l'ós, però hi ha elements que el distreuen. Joel, amb l'ajuda de Maggie, fa classes de preparació al part.

La lluna plena pertorba els somnis dels habitants de Cicely. Joel coneix l'Adam, un yeti gourmet. Bernard arriba a Cicely, encara que no sap com, i coneix Chris.

Joel rep una carta de la seva promesa Elaine dient-li que el deixa. Holling instal·la una televisió per satèl·lit, però Shelly no és capaç de deixar de mirar-la i es torna addicta a la telebotiga.

Ed intenta esbrinar alguna cosa sobre els seus pares amb lajuda dun vell esperit indi. Chris perd la veu en veure una dona bella, i només pot recuperar-la ficant-se al llit amb la dona més maca de Cicely.

Holling decideix fer-se la circumcisió per agradar més a Shelly. Un home desconegut mor a Cicely. Maggie tem que el seu pare no aprovi Rick, de manera que li explica que el seu xicot és Joel.

Joel planeja unes vacances a Nova York i el seu substitut, Dave, és encantador. Però Maggie somia que Joel mor durant el vol, una cosa greu tenint en compte el seu historial. Maurice rep la visita d?una vella amant i sospita que té apnea del somni. Comencem a saber coses sobre les fundadores de Cicely.

Tots els habitants de Cicely estan alterats amb la primavera. En concret, Joel i Maggie tenen la libido pels núvols. L'agent Barbara Semanski arriba per investigar diversos robatoris, i Maurice se n'enamora.

Nikolai, un famós cantant d'òpera rus, arriba per a la visita anual a Cicely; tots estan encantats menys Maurice. Ed s'enamora i li demana a Chris que li escrigui una carta per conquerir la noia. Holling no pot descansar a causa dels seus somnis.

Rick mor quan li cau a sobre un satèl·lit: sembla que la "maledicció de Maggie" torna a atacar. Holling es troba amb una vella amiga i Shelly es posa gelosa. Una parella vol comprar la casa de Maurici, però aquest no aprova la seva manera de vida.

La Maggie descobreix coses del passat de Rick que el fan tenir una crisi amb els homes. Joel es troba amb Adam i la seva dona, Eve, i pateix una estranya situació a la seva cabana. Maurice veu correspost el seu amor per Semanski, fins que la seva situació financera és un element de conflicte.

Joel intenta estudiar el cas d'atracció de les dones cap a Chris a causa de les feromones, mentre aquest s'enamora de l'oculista, que és l'única que no sucumbeix a la seva olor. Maggie pateix una crisi a causa del seu problema de presbícia. Maurice experimenta un atac de ressentiment cap a Holling arran d'una fotografia.

Maggie i Joel es queden atrapats enmig de la natura a causa d'una fallada del motor de l'avioneta de Maggie. Shelly rep la visita de la seva amiga Cindy, que s'ha casat amb Wayne, del qual Shelly encara no se n'ha divorciat.

Maggie creu trobar Rick reencarnat en un gos. Maurice intenta convèncer Marilyn per fer negoci amb la seva granja de estruços. Ed sofreix una crisi amb el seu intent de pel·lícula, i finalment es decideix a fer-ne una sobre la fauna humana de Cicely.

El bessó de Joel, però totalment oposat en caràcter, apareix a Cicely, i tots dos s'intercanvien personalitats. Chris rep notícies d'un antic conegut que vol lliurar-se per vells crims.

Apareix un cos en un bloc de gel, amb un diari que afirma que el difunt era un auxiliar de Napoleó, i que junts van fugir de Waterloo per instal·lar-se a Alaska, on l'emperador va tenir descendència amb una nativa. Joel rep una visita del profeta Elies. Holling se sent torbat pels seus orígens francesos. Ed és animat per Ruth-Anne per continuar amb el seu guió.

Bernard, el germanastre de Chris, ve de visita, mentre aquest darrer té estranys somnis amb Àfrica. Elaine, l'ex de Joel, ve de visita, cosa que altera tant aquest com Maggie. Adam apareix a Cicely a la recerca de diners.

Joel se'n va de caça per intentar comprendre l'afició a ella. Ruth-Anne fa 75 anys i Ed li prepara una festa.

El circ arriba a Cicely! L'home volador inicia una relació amb Marilyn. Joel estudia els llibres. Shelly i Holling tenen una crisi arran dels seus peus.

El Nadal arriba a Cicely. Acompanyada d'una celebració local sobre un corb, afecta de diferents maneres els personatges. Maurice descobreix que té un fill coreà.

Adam torna temporalment a Cicely, on, a més de cuinar, escriurà per a Maurice. Holling té deutes amb el fisc, i ven part del seu bar a Chris.

Joel és adoptat per una tribu local en agraïment a la seva labor. Holling tanca el pub per a reformes, però Maggie sospita que hi ha una altra raó per fer-ho.

Holling té una crisi de la mitjana edat quan descobreix que un oncle seu ha mort, mentre Chris recorda la seva, amb 21 anys. Joel se sent aclaparat en descobrir que és l'únic jueu a la zona. Ed cerca activitats a punt d'extingir-se per recollir-les en un documental.

Maggie rep la visita de la seva mare, que resulta desastrosa quan l'informa que s'està divorciant del pare, i queda per accident casa seva. Chris busca la vaca perfecta per llançar-la amb una catapulta. Joel descobreix que el escura-xemeneies local és un antic golfista retirat.

Eleccions a Cicely! Edna s'enfronta a Holling pel lloc de batlia. Ed vota per primera vegada. Joel i Maggie han de compartir càrrec al capdavant de la mesa electoral, i descobreixen les diferents opcions polítiques.

Maurice i Holling emprenen una travessia per enterrar en un lloc remot un amic comú acabat de morir. La seva història reflecteix la que Chris està explicant a la ràdio, extreta de La llamada del vent.

Joel descobreix que la seva cabanya té un fantasma, amb què s'identifica. Eve torna a aparèixer creient-se malalta de nou. Maurice rep la visita d'un antic Coronel amb qui va servir i al qual admira, tot i que la visita és diferent en el seu objectiu del que s'esperava.

La mare Shelly apareix a Cicely, però es fa passar per la seva germana davant del seu xicot de 24 anys. Un nen abandonat apareix a la consulta de Joel. Adam pateix estranys canvis de caràcter.

Un remeier acudeix a la consulta de Joel per comparar les seves maneres de curar. Shelly té una reacció cutània que Joel no arriba a comprendre bé. Maggie rep visites d´un ós i un atractiu desconegut.

Un misteriós paquet amb destinatari desconegut arriba a Cicely. Una excursió de turistes japonesos s'allotja al Sourdough Inn, per al descontentament de Maurice. Holling està desolat per la mort de Jesse.

Mentre Chris té problemes d'idioma, i rep una visita del seu germà Bernard, que sembla fora de sincronia, Joel se'n va a un congrés a Juneau, on planeja caçar alguna doctora soltera, però es veu obligat a compartir habitació amb Maggie.

Eve i Adam decideixen casar-se, encara que primer hauran d'esquivar algunes dificultats desconegudes. Shelly actua com a dama d'honor amb una passió que desconcerta Holling. Maggie té un comportament estrany amb joel des de la tornada de Juneau, però reacciona encara pitjor en descobrir coses que no van passar allà.

Un ancià de 108 anys, antic resident de Cicely, relata la fundació de la població actual, i la història de les seves fundadores, Roslyn i Cicely.

Maggie fa 30 anys. Per suggeriment d'Ed, decideix acampar a la vora del riu per celebrar-ho, però una infecció converteix l'experiència en un deliri amb els ex-nuvis morts. Marilyn vol aprèn a conduir. Maurice parla i parla a una gravadora, mentre redacta les memòries.

Joel pateix els efectes del sol de mitjanit, amb un estat d'hiperexcitació, mentre actua com a entrenador per a l'equip de bàsquet local. Un venedor ambulant de roba torna a Cicely.

Chris mata accidentalment un gos mentre condueix, i quan acudeix a informar la seva propietària, resulta immediatament atret per ella. Maurice compra un caríssim i antic rellotge. Quan vénen a instal·lar-lo i posar-lo en marxa, el tècnic no és exactament qui Maurice s'imaginava.

Chris rep un estrany enviament postal contenint les restes mortals d'un antic i proper amic, fet que li fa plantejar-se moltes coses. Un famós roquer arriba a la ciutat, despertant l'admiració de Shelly, i compta amb Ed per fer un autodocumental sobre si mateix.

Mike Monrow, que diu que és híper-al·lèrgic, s'instal·la a Cicley. Joel ho considera un simple hipocondríac, però Maggie resulta atreta per aquest nou habitant. El fill economista de Ruth-Anne apareix a Cicely, de visita, amb la intenció de canviar la seva vida.

L'home volador reapareix a Cicely, i tracta de nou de comprometre's amb Marilyn. Maurice vol incloure el seu fill coreà al testament. Ed troba un anell possiblement pertanyent a Fellini dins un peix. L'atracció de Maggie per Mike augmenta.

Una filla desconeguda de Holling apareix a la ciutat, encara que ell dubta de la realitat de la seva filiació, i no li agrada la influència que exerceix a Shelly. Ed es preocupa per un bernat pescador que va criar de jove, i torna cada migració. Marilyn cerca una nova casa amb l'ajuda de Maggie.

Arriba el dia d'acció de gràcies a Cicely, i Joel descobreix les curioses tradicions que tenen els indis sobre això. D'altra banda, rep la notícia que s'amplia el seu temps de servei a Alaska, cosa que el deprimeix absolutament. Maggie continua intimant amb Mike.

Un antic espia de la KGB arriba a Cicely venent informació a Maurice i altres habitants. Maurice pateix una crisi arran del que en saben. Joel descobreix l'existència d'un altre Fleishman a Rússia que ha patit persecució com a jueu. Holling rep la visita d?un inspector de sanitat. Maggie intenta ser millor persona, en descobrir que un company mor en un vol que ella hauria d'haver fet al seu lloc.

Una ordre d?extradició des d?un altre estat arriba a nom de Chris, que s?ha de sotmetre a judici amb la jutge rotativa que passa en aquests moments per Cicely. Mike, sense experiència prèvia en aquest camp, serà el responsable d'exercir la defensa, usant arguments inesperats.

Apareixen restes indies antigues al jardí de Maggie, i Maurice organitza la seva extracció i catalogació. Un noi de 12 anys, fugit d'un campament, apareix a Cicely i troba relació amb Holling i Chris. Ed té somnis sobre la destrucció del medi ambient i vol fer alguna cosa per evitar-ho.

Joel està trasbalsat per la inactivitat en no tenir pacients. Chris se'n va de retir a un monestir, a la recerca de renovar la seva espiritualitat, encara que no és el que ell imaginaria. Ruth-Anne compra la botiga a Maurice, que era l'anterior propietari, i crea una situació tensa entre tots dos.

"El que espera" torna a aparèixer, per indicar a Ed el seu veritable pare biològic. Un afinador de pianos amb un caràcter força difícil arriba per afinar el de Holling. Maggie i Mike es fan un petó, però Maggie tem per la seva maledicció de nou.

Maggie demana a Joel que l'acompanyi a Grosse Pointe, a l'aniversari de la seva àvia, a canvi d'unes entrades per al bàsquet. Les complexes relacions familiars resulten encara més estranyes del que esperava.

Marylin se'n va de vacances a Seattle, i Joel està preocupat perquè no sàpiga manejar-se i es posi en perill. Holling vol acabar els estudis de secundària. La nova professora, també pilot, xoca ideològicament amb Maggie.

El coho, un vent propi de la zona, bufa ocasionant canvis en el caràcter de les persones. Ed pensa en el suïcidi. Maggie colpeja a Joel, trencant-li el nas, a la qual cosa aquest respon amb una demanda. Acabaran donant curs a la tensió sexual. Chris salva la vinya d'una caiguda a Maurice, que se sent en deute, cosa que no suporta.

Ed rep un acord de matrimoni per part del seu oncle amb una jove índia que no coneix. Maggie no recorda haver tingut sexe amb Joel, encara que aquest ho afirmi. Holling i Ruth-Anne s'intentaran fotografiar un ocell poc freqüent a la zona, per a desconcert de Maurice.

Joel goes on strike when the state of Alaska will not allow him time off for a Caribbean vacation he was planning. Chris has trouble seeking inspiration for his new sculpture. A vagrant's presence on Main St. outrages Maurice, when he learns the man is an ex-marine he tries to become his benefactor. Maggie debates about having sex with Mike. Holling spends his time in hibernation. The town of Cicely strikes back against Joel.

A totem pole carved in tribute to the Raven clan reopens a bitter rift between them and the Bear clan. Shelly gets medical advice telling her that getting married may help her to get rid of the strange hallucinations with dancers that she's been having. Joel confronts Maggie about their "whatever" and her relationship with Mike; together they decide they're "mutually desirous incompatibles."

Maggie is excited when she thinks she has "cured" her latest beau, as opposed to killing him; however she is crushed when he tells her that he leaving to work for Greenpeace in Murmansk. Holling is disgusted by Shelly's redecorating of their bed & bathroom. Maurice moves his childhood home to Cicely and it stirs up memories of his brother.

When Maggie distributes the invitations for Maurice's 25th Anniversary Bash for Minnifield Communications an event "everyone" is attending Joel doesn't get one. Shelly accidentally breaks one of Maurice's expensive bottles of wine and tries to find a way to replace it. Adam and Eve return with the baby, Aldrich, and Adam takes over the food preparation of a special dish.

Joel seeks out other Jews to help him mourn his uncle and Maurice calls out the troops to go out and round some up. Chris gets Bernard to help settle a 150-year-old feud between the Millers and the Stevens; something Bernard has some trepidation about participating in especially since it involves fighting, something he's never done. Marilyn drafts Holling to be her partner in a Cajun dance contest.

Spring comes to Cicely and Holling pays to get a job on a farm pulling a plow, because of his wish to sow seeds. Maggie saves Dave's life, a tape from Mike and other events get the people of Cicely thinking that she has healing powers. Maurice buys a pig for routing out truffles for the annual Mosquito Festival, but the pig may become the main course at a luau. Holling throws his back out and Shelly finds out that she is pregnant.

Maurice's son comes to ask for his permission on his choice of a bride. There is a little hitch, Ron thinks that the new bride maybe the daughter of North Korean Colonel Pak Soon Ye, the butcher of Yang Dok. To help in the preservation of his native tongue, Ed decides to dub The Prisoner of Zenda. Holling's "needs" (an average of 4 times a day) are being held back and he seeks a way to relieve them. Ed runs into trouble with the star of his movie, a man with experience working in Hollywood and no time for Ed's inexperience. Maurice runs into mixed emotions on his feelings about his own personal feelings and the feelings of his son.

The town's oldest tree is dying. Shelly wakes up and finds that she can't talk, but she can sing. The town asks Joel to diagnose Old Vicki. Chris goes wireless and is freed from the confines of the broadcast booth. Shelly's singing starts to get on Holling's nerves. Maggie tries to be pleasant to Joel and the result of all this kindness is that Joel keeps getting injured. Maurice is intent on bringing the tree down. Shelly becomes worried that she may never talk again. After the felling of Old Vicki, the town has a wake. Maurice feels remorse after the felling of Old Vicki. Maggie and Joel cut a deal to try keeping Joel injury free.

Ed wakes up in strange places with no clues about how he got there. Joel contracts "glacier dropsy" which gives him the feeling of pins pricking his nose, a fear of shrimp, a tender groin and other strange symptoms. Shelly loses her singing voice just when she needs it. Leonard treats Joel's patients and Ed's "sleep flying" which maybe and indication of a greater purpose.

Maggie investigates the owners of an antique shop who are exhibiting strange behavior. Maurice begins to see the signs of age when he is called a senior citizen, meets old friends who've seen better days, and has a mild heart attack. Joel discovers that a Yiddish word is in the local Indian language and that a Jewish man may have had an influence in Alaska two hundred years before.

Maurice is chosen to be a wax figure at Madame Tussaud's, in London, for their rugged individualist's exhibit. Chris is faced with having to live longer than he planned on, a consequence he has trouble dealing with. The dentist comes to town, which puts everyone on edge.

Bernard is surprised when he discovers his new love once lived with Chris for 6 months. Joel starts to fear that he is losing his New York edge. Marilyn screens her potential dates via their medical records.

Maggie is asked by the three guys in Cicely's high school senior class to be their homecoming queen and she accepts. Ruth-Anne faces an IRS auditor who besides trying to figure out her practice of accepting goods and services for payment is undergoing stress from her own marital problems. Maurice tries to outsmart a wealthy American Indian in a land deal. Joel is stuck out in the wilderness without his tape recorder.

Joel's parents come to Cicely and his father's know-it-all attitude gets on Joel's nerves and his mother gets back to nature. Holling's dislike of sports causes Shelly to ponder their baby's athletic future and his stature among the men of Cicely.

Ed hits an impasse in his film career when Maurice has him begin to organize Cicely's first film festival and he can't seem to get things going to Maurice's satisfaction. Joel makes excuses for why he can't join the volunteer fire department and goes on the offensive when his truck bursts into flames and the volunteers are nowhere to be found. Leonard becomes frustrated as he researches the healing properties found in white folklore.

Ed accompanies Leonard on a house call and has success with his first try at being a shaman. Joel teaches a childbirth class which Holling finds amusing and makes Shelly embarrassed and causes another couple to break up. Maggie buys a new washer/dryer combination but regrets it later when she loses the camaraderie of the Laundromat. Ed is visited by a small green man whose purpose is to make him begin to doubt his healing abilities.

Chris suffers an anxiety attack during the written part of the exam, when he decides to become a pilot. Holling and Ruth-Anne's friendship undergoes a strain when a diary that Ed has found shows that his grandfather ate hers during the blizzard of 1897. Joel is in search the thief of forty dollars in petty cash.

As the town prepares for winter, a healthy elderly patient tells Joel she is dying, much to his disbelief. Maggie decides to redecorate her house before winter sets in and gets a new chair that no one seems to like. Holling must figure out how many plots to dig at the cemetery before the ground freezes. Shelly lies to Maurice about never saying she loved him and she thinks her nose has begun to grow because of it.

An agent stops by to see Ed about his idea for "The Shaman" but he wants a few "little" changes made to better sell the script. Chris seeks to discover his feminine side. Joel and Maggie "discuss" motherhood. Shelly flees her baby shower as all the pressures of motherhood begin to show themselves to her, when Eve and others tell their child birthing experiences.

The aurora borealis causes the residents of Cicely to swap their dreams, exposing secrets. Maggie has Holling's dream about being a cab driver in Quebec, driving his overbearing father around. Ron has Maurice's dream about blue pumps. Joel sleepwalks in search of candy, having a child's dream. Holling has Dave's dream about kayaking with a spatula. Walt has someone's dream (Joel's?) about climbing a never ending tower.

A musician tries to stop Maurice from storing, in his safe, a 1.6 million-dollar violin he's just bought as an investment. Maggie becomes obsessed with ridding her house of dust mites after she develops an allergy to them. Chris struggles to find inspiration for his latest sculpture. Joel and Maggie have their first date, which ends early because of talk about things microscopic.

The ranger from up in the fire tower asks for Joel when he is distraught over losing his current job. Joel talks him down, but after 15 years of being alone he needs time to adjust. Adam ruins Maurice's plans for a President's Day fireworks show because the guys running the display are there to "get him." While out on a fishing trip with Chris, Ed is struck by lightning and becomes depressed while thinking about why.

Ruth-Anne and Walt take the long way back home when they pick up a couple of oak display cases; however they run into vehicle trouble. Before giving birth, Shelly goes on a spiritual journey at the Laundromat and meets up with "The Pooper" at different stages of her life. Joel and Maggie get frustrated as they try too hard at making a go of their relationship.

Joel discovers that his friends consider him remiss about entertaining them, so he plans a dinner party; later he worries about potential food poisoning. Holling tells Shelly that he is not a Canadian citizen, which makes her worry about not having national health care for "The Pooper." Chris "comes to realize the power of this thing (microphone)," when a listener kills himself after hearing one of his selections, so he revises the play list. Shelly takes "The Pooper" back to Canada and Holling goes after them.

Ruth-Anne tries learning Italian, so she can read Dante, and gets some help from Shelly. Walt needs sunlight to overcome his depression, so he gets his light glasses and becomes addicted, so Chris & Holling perform an intervention. Caribou block Main Street, so the mayor takes action. While waiting out a storm in the airport cabin with Maggie, everything is going Joel's way, until Ed shows up.

While fishing Joel hooks "Goony," Cicely's fabled sea-monster. Ruth-Anne takes Chris's motorcycle ride when customer demands get to be too much for her, then she joins a middle-aged motorcycle gang for a midnight ride. Holling gives up on his paint-by-numbers after Maurice ridicules his work. Joel meets his Rabbi in the middle of the lake after "Goony" takes him for a ride. The town, especially Maurice, demand action when it appears Ruth-Anne may not be coming back.

Maurice's home catches fire and after it's extinguished there is a danger of asbestos, so he takes some space at Holling and Shelly's place. Later when Holling won't accept any remuneration he becomes outraged. Chris chooses not to shoot a buck when he has an easy shot; he later seeks out the deer again when he receives a bottle of Buckhorn whiskey for his trouble. Joel makes a medical discovery but has no other physicians to share his good news with, so Maggie brings another doctor to town that he can talk shop with.

Ed tells one person about the fact that he saw Ruth-Anne and Walt together and later she tells him about the relationship but doesn't want it to get around so he'd better keep quiet, but it slips out. Maggie hires Maurice to help her with the construction of an ultra-light, but fires him when his meticulous details take the project over. Shelly worries about Holling's relationship with the priest that's come to town to baptize Randi.

Ron and Erick are getting married but the preparations are driving them apart. Holling undercuts another caterer for the wedding reception, but when he realizes the cost of the ingredients, for the dishes they want, he tries a few substitutions. Maggie thinks that Joel's kindness is making her ill. Maurice tries to duck out of the wedding. Marilyn is taking a writing class and keeping a journal, which Joel worries about the content regarding him.

Ted tries to impress Marilyn with the rich client he's just landed and learns what makes them different. Maurice organizes Cicely's 1st International wheelchair race and demands too much from the contestant he is sponsoring. Ed prescribes a remedy for a racer with tennis elbow, but the little green man returns to try to undermine his confidence in his healing abilities.

Though he promotes it on the air, Chris has reservations about making a donation for Maurice's blood drive. Ed discovers his rare blood type is shared by another person in town, so he hires a P.I., Renaldo Pinetree, to dig into her past and find out if she is her mother. Maggie's old "tiller mate" from Grosse Pointe comes to Cicely after her affections and he offers Joel the incentive to leave Cicely for good. Joel loses his touch for drawing blood as Cicely nears the amount Maurice needs to win his bet with a neighboring town.

Joel is the only one awestruck by his discovery of a frozen woolly mammoth. Chris gets reacquainted with a girl whose beauty he remembers from high school; however, when she arrives, all is not as he recalled and she appears to be getting uglier. Maurice has a birthday dinner surprise for Barbara complete with the violin playing of the man who blew up his truck. The next morning he escapes. Joel concedes that he's become a Cicelian.

Joel takes a spiritual journey to New York City after drinking orange juice that contains some Indian folk medicine and sees how life might have been. There he and his wife Shelly, a corporate lawyer, give a dinner party. Maurice is their doorman and Eugene their elevator operator; Maggie is the au pair for their kids; Bernard is in fashions and Chris is an inarticulate fashion photographer; Ed is a corporate raider; Ruth-Anne runs the internal medical partnership that Joel is trying to join; Holling is a singer who's got agoraphobia (fear of open places). Through the course of the evening, they begin to transform into their Cicelian characters.

With Renaldo, Ed participates in an investigation of possible insurance fraud being perpetrated by Hayden Keyes. Maggie & Maurice both regret their donations to the library fund-raising auction. A dollhouse from the auction, Miranda's 1st birthday, and her growth begin to depress Shelly.

Maurice's plans for a fox hunt with his visiting English noblewoman must be put on hold when the fox escapes and gets into the protective custody of Ruth-Anne. Firing Marilyn and his lack of concern for Hayden's well-being are two items that haunt Joel, Dickensian style, during his celebration of Yom Kippur. Meanwhile Holling yearns to make amends for past misdeeds.

A letter Maggie wrote to herself as a teenager makes her re-examine her current life against the ideals she had at fifteen. Shelly ignores a chain letter, and then bad luck falls on the Vincoeur household. A new barber arrives in Cicely and Chris tries to be his friend, but he doesn't want anything to do with an ex-con. A lump is discovered on Joel's head, so he goes to Anchorage and finds out the lump may be malignant, so he starts to live his life to the fullest.

Satan comes to Cicely as a whirlpool salesman; he offers to fulfill Shelly's fantasy of making the Brick a major casino. Ed makes a mistake and skews the results of a cold medicine test that Joel is running for John Hopkins. Chris gets a ventriloquist's dummy and adds him to his radio show, but the dummy becomes more popular, because he "shoots straight from the hip." Maurice is convinced that Joel's cold medicine contains a new appetite suppressant and he presses Joel to tell him what it is. When that doesn't work, he gets Hayden to try to steal the information. To make her fantasy come true, all Shelly must do is burn Holling's old bathrobe.

Ed films Marilyn telling the story of a Russian princess and her grandfather. It seems that Lenin and Anastasia arranged to meet in Cicely to work out an agreement that would reestablish the rule of her family in Russia. Meanwhile, an all-terrain vehicle is being prototyped for the Alaskan frontier.

Maurice welcomes his young cousin Maurice to Cicely, hopefully to take over the family business. Charges of static electricity generate a new interest--and a new art project-- for Chris. Meanwhile sparks fly between Joel and Maggie on a Russian airline bound for St. Petersburg, where Joel is scheduled to speak at a medical convention.

Maurice sends Ed after Joel, who's moved up river; and Joel tells Ed of the few days he and Maggie spent together, where every time they got together, there was gunfire. Chris hires a contractor to improve the lot around his trailer and it turns his world upside down. When Walt goes away to check his traps, Ruth-Anne realizes that she's fallen in love and tries to fight it.

A new doctor and his wife move to Cicely to take over Joel's practice and his house. While settling in, they get to know some quirks of the people and their new environment. After eating a trout, Ed starts to see the future. Holling tries to join the "Sons of the Tundra" and Shelly dislikes the "men only" aspect. Joel stops by and trades Holling pelts for a new knife.

Maggie gets elected mayor. Joel invites Phil up river, for a game of golf and a test. Michelle covers Maggie's first city council meeting as mayor and Maggie makes her first motion for a centrally located dumpster but runs into opposition from the fiscal-restraint minded crowd. Maggie's power as mayor becomes a turn on for Chris. Marilyn invests money in a stud dog that doesn't want to mate.

Maggie decides to go and see Joel in the Manonash village after she begins to have visions of him dying. The Capras are having a small get together, but the whole town seems to turn out. Marilyn brings along two friends to the party, and because they're snowed in, they stay with the Capras, whom try to figure out how to get them to leave. Ed's shaman cure for shingles has Phil intrigued, he goes to Ed's to find out the secret but finds Ed's filing system less than perfect. Using a computer, to database these notes, makes Ed afraid.

Marilyn comes to visit an old friend in the community where Joel is living and he begins to revert to his old ways. Maurice leaves Ed in charge of his house and he returns to find Ed has taken over the place. The Vincoeurs are house hunting and make an offer on Semanski's place but only after Holling gets a few little details fixed; but does he really want it?

The state of Alaska admits to Joel that they were wrong in over-extending his contract. With his release secured, Joel returns to Cicely to collect his things. Phil notices there is something wrong with Maurice's new bottled water; the effect causes males and females to reverse roles. Cal escapes and becomes a fugitive in search of an audience. The area where Joel goes does not contain a village named Greenwich.

When Maggie's mother and her male friend, who dies, come to visit, she realizes that her luck with men runs in the family. Maurice becomes jealous of Holling's friendship with Phil. Ruth-Anne and Walt's relationship is put to the test when she has him help her out in the store.

Joel finds a map and brings Maggie with him on a quest to find a mythical city. They meet a belligerent gatekeeper and when faced with a crossroads, Joel sees his future and departs. Phil cleans out some impacted earwax for Chris but Chris sues him for malpractice when his inner ear is damaged. Maurice lets Holling know that Michelle is writing an article on restaurants for Alaska Highways magazine but she can't find any good words to describe the food at the Brick.

The citizens get ready to celebrate founders' day; Chris and Maggie open an old garage and uncover Roslyn and Cicely's old Model T. While rebuilding the car, Chris starts to show an interest in Maggie. Maurice believes that Miranda is the reincarnation of his uncle, so he "plans to take a personal interest in her." The Capras look at their financial situation when they wish to build a house on land they've bought. Phil has a major anxiety attack, resulting from the onslaught of nature, and he tries to get Maurice to buy back the property. Michelle's wish to be different nearly gets her frostbite, when she decides to not wear the anonymous gifts she's received.

Maggie outbids Maurice for the ownership of the town's rundown theater which she begins to run with help of Ed and Heather. When two professors come to Cicely for the oral examination for Chris' master's degree, they clash over Chris' dissertation. A young Canadian Air Force lieutenant claims that Holling is his father, something proven because Holling sent his mother money every month for 25 years. However, that's just covering up a secret from his past. The theatre business causes stress for Maggie.

Ruth-Anne makes her debut on National Public Radio telling about little slices of life from Cicely. The Capras go to Cicely's Little Italy, where it turns out there is an exclusive restaurant in the basement of a house in a feud with the people next door and they get caught in the middle. Maggie in her role as mayor must play marriage counselor for Shelly and Holling.

Ed resents Maurice's advice about his relationship with Heather. Chris believes that Maggie needs a new bowling partner so he holds tryouts and gets the woolly mammoth professor to be her partner. Michelle's success at bowling threatens Phil; they fight about it and she moves out. Chris becomes jealous of Maggie's new partner. Lester's wants to produce Ed's script for "The Shaman" with one change that makes Ed think about what Maurice said to him. Michelle moves out of the house.

Michelle decides to mount a stage production of "Bus Stop" unaware of the curse that has plagued past stage productions. Ron helps guarantee that Erick gets a coveted role and Shelly is jealous when Maggie gets the female lead. Hayden designs the sets and a stage with a trap door. Holling, Erick and Chris all have issues to deal with about their parts in the play, which they discuss while drinking out at Holling's still.

Ed learns the responsibilities of parenthood when he begins caring for a lost bear cub. Maurice discovers that Cicely's population is declining. Chris uses a device that allows him to manipulate his dreams and work out some issues in his relationship with Maggie. Michelle waitresses at the Brick while continuing to work out her issues with Phil.

Chris begins taking dance lessons from Marilyn but she disciplines one of her other students into giving him the lessons only she doesn't want to be seen talking to him, even though they have similar interests. Philip offends Marilyn's mother when he breaks tribal protocols for manners and Michelle confirms his deficiency. Maurice and Barbara travel on a prisoner transport with Cal the violinist to bring him back to the sanitarium. Along the way she falls under the spell of his violin playing causing her to think about violating the rules and letting him go free.

Maurice's plans to ask Barbara to marry him while spending the weekend at his new summer home are in jeopardy when her style clashes with the way he wants his guests treated. Phil and Michelle continue to try to work out their differences and Ed, in his Shaman capacity, and Joel's Rabbi offer some advice. Chris is on the loose when Maggie doesn't make the journey to Maurice's but soon realizes that he is a changed man. The Vincoeurs stay locked up in their room when Holling is in heat.