Michael Aloysius Rafferty starts his new job as Stipendiary Magistrate of Manly Local Court.

Rafferty's estranged wife Joanne arrives in Sydney to discuss a few things and he is anxious. Meanwhile, Paulyne has a crisis of conscience when she has to act for a man in an assault case.

Rafferty deals with a young prostitute and U.S. government officials apply to extradite one of their citizens.

Rafferty is angry when a drugs case he was listed to deal with is suddenly moved to another court and confronts the Chief Magistrate about the matter.

Rafferty is forced to examine his attitude towards women.

Rafferty feels alone with his recent move to the city.

Rafferty has no choice but to dismiss a big drug case.

Rafferty hears two cases about people's desire to look good.

A young prostitute decides to defend herself against a soliciting charge.

An Italian father and his brother plant a bomb in Rafferty's chambers.

Rafferty investigates what appears to be an accidental death by drowning.

A young drifter comes before Rafferty's court for being in possession of a cat skin.

Rafferty's cases reflect people invading other people's privacy.

Rafferty finds that people and things are not always as they seem.

Rafferty realises that the media makes innocent people look like monsters.

Work pressures get to much for Paulyne and a love affair seems the answer.

Flicker's replacement finds he has to play it by Rafferty's rules.

Double standards are apparent in a case that comes before Rafferty.

Rafferty confronts painful parallels at home when his kids arrive out of the blue.

There is an uneasy atmosphere around Rafferty's court when Flicker returns.

Rafferty's court is thrown into turmoil by a mysterious thief in Rafferty's office.

Rafferty is confronted by a case involving vandalism on a building site.

Rafferty gets involved in a case of racial prejudice.

Rafferty is confronted by the past when his older brother visits him.

The police are called in to protect Rafferty when he starts receiving threats.

Rafferty, embroiled in what local papers call "the punk drug squatters assault case", faces a housing crisis of his own and deals with the by-products of a cashless society: credit card junkies.

Michael wrestles with the concept of possession after the discovery of Aboriginal remains creates a conflict of ownership between the state and the Indigenous community.

Michael is caught between a rock and a hard place when he is forced to decide the fate of a young boy whose doctors believe is sick, but whose parents are refusing further tests on religious grounds.

Fulvio learns that his teacher and idol isn't quite the perfect magistrate that he thought after he takes over when Michael falls ill.

The courthouse becomes the centre of the fallout from a Secret Intelligence Agency training exercise.

Gibson faces his past after a series of alcohol-related prosecutions force him to confront the reasons he gave up drinking.

A series of sexual assaults has consequences for the courthouse when the police fit up suspects and Paulyne is attacked in her own home.

Pauline finds that her personal life is mirroring her professional life when her former lover Gavin reappears and announces that he is getting married, just as she is defending a woman who refuses to accept that her marriage is over.

Paulyne accuses an insurance company of racism when they report a Lebanese man to the police after he claims his precious rings were stolen just days after taking out a policy.

Michael, Paulyne and Gibson find their ethics challenged when they deal with a man accused of raping his wife; however, it soon becomes apparent to all that the case is far more sinister than they ever could have imagined.

Rafferty is confronted with the limitations of the law when it comes to dispensing justice.

The courthouse finds itself becoming caught up in the deadly web of a cult. Michael is shocked when he goes on an early morning run and discovers the body of a young woman washed up on the beach.

Michael takes responsibility for a foreign woman after she shows up on his doorstep.

A heatwave frays tempers at the courthouse when everyone arrives at work to find the air-conditioning broken.

The personal and the professional converge for Flicker when the anti-nuclear group his son is involved in begins protesting the arrival of nuclear warships.

Rafferty's 6-year-old son goes missing.

The Bard comes into the courtroom when an elderly man reciting Shakespeare is arrested for busking without a licence.

Michael's hopes of reuniting with his estranged wife are dashed when Joanne reveals that she has come to visit to end their relationship, and then their son falls ill.

An unexpected tragedy forces Paulyne to re-evaluate her life; meanwhile she struggles to remain objective while defending a man accused of manslaughter over the death of a pedestrian.

New Legal Aid solicitor Lisa Blake starts work at the courthouse; however, she soon finds herself coming into conflict with Michael when she grandstands in the courtroom, then fails to fully prepare a case in mitigation for a defendant.

A journalist sets out to prove that corruption exists in Rafferty's court.

Lisa continues to have problems settling in, with her abrasive nature putting Michael offside.

Lisa begins to wonder whether evil does exist when she defends a sociopath.

The entire courthouse struggles to cope when Michael is forced to decide whether a man accused of murder has a case to answer.

Lisa defends a young man who seems to be heading for the same life of crime as his father once did, but she refuses to believe Ray Brown's claims that the father's intentions are anything but honourable.

Michael's world is turned upside down after learning that he has a twenty-two year old daughter from a previous relationship.

Flicker's prosecution against a young policeman who has broken the law is complicated when he begins to recognise that something even more suspicious is going on.

More than one life is on the line after a former children's television performer is charged with propositioning young boys for sex in the changing rooms of a local swimming pool.

A criminal nicknamed 'The Hairy Bandit' is causing havoc and the courthouse is feeling the impact.

Michael's divorce from Joanne officially comes through, just as former Public Solicitor Paulyne Gray reappears in his life after a six month absence.

Michael considers his attitudes towards both politics and rural life after his cousin comes to the city, having now been elected to Parliament and holding very different opinions to Michael.

Michael sees the law from another perspective after he becomes the key witness in Flicker's prosecution against an arsonist.

Michael begins to wonder if someone is trying to put a spell on him after a number of suspicious run-ins with a member of a religious commune.

Lisa confronts the prejudices of society when she defends a man with AIDS who has committed an armed robbery in order to ensure his wife's future following his death.

Michael is drawn into the world of a struggling young family after he witnesses a woman being hit by a car.

Lisa finds herself at odds with her colleagues when she defends an anti-nuclear activist whose family and the police are determined to have detained for his own safety.

Rafferty decides to expose a Chilean military attaché following charges for torturing political dissidents in Chile.

Flicker is horrified after he discovers just what conditions are faced by those in the police cells awaiting trial.

Racial tensions erupt when two Asian men are accused of murder, while Michael questions his capacity as a magistrate after an act of leniency has dire consequences.

Flicker and Lisa find themselves dealing with a particularly challenging court case when a girl alleges that she was raped by her father four years earlier.

Lisa defends a singer who has beaten his wife, but her personal involvement in the case is made more difficult when he brings a gun into the courthouse.

Michael revisits his past as a university radical and conscientious objector when he is forced to decide the fate of a man who he once protested alongside.

Flicker confronts his own prejudices when he prosecutes a case involving the assault of a female impersonator; however, it is Michael who finds himself at the centre of a controversy after the verdict is given.

Lisa is drawn into an organisation known as Life Force after a man is arrested for break and enter and assault.

Flicker finds himself wandering into a murky world of corruption when he prosecutes a case against a police officer who has broken the law and where the key witness is a serial whistleblower.

Fulvio and Sandra's marriage comes close to breaking point after Sandra is arrested for shoplifting.

Michael, Flicker and Lisa are dragged into a murky political world when they discover that the conflict between the British and the Irish is alive and well in Sydney.

An act of vandalism by the member of an animal rights group leaves Michael becoming emotionally involved with the accused's mother.

A man seeks Lisa's help when he is sacked after complaining about the work conditions; however, she soon finds herself defending him when he assaults his former boss.

Lisa is drawn to an attractive young lawyer; however, she is forced into an ethical dilemma when his personal life unravels.

The feminist movement comes to the courthouse when a prominent feminist runs a group of pigs through the shop of a man accused of sexual harassment.

Flicker finds himself at the crossroads of a major life decision after he falls in love with a young female Constable, but his excitement at finding new love may see him lose it all.

A convicted criminal whose ex-wife is about to marry a police officer comes before the court accused of assault.

Lisa assists a young woman whose boyfriend has been arrested; however, she is horrified when she learns that he has been detained without charge and suspects that the police are fitting him up because he is Aboriginal.

Lisa fights to save an Indian couple who are facing deportation, only to discover that the collapse of the British Empire means that they have no real home to go back to.

Michael and Flicker befriend the beachcomber and poet, Snowy White; however, their admiration is crushed when it begins to appear that Snowy may be guilty of murder.

Lisa is charmed by a client accused of appropriating money from elderly women; however, Michael and Flicker cause conflict when they question her judgement.

A prominent radio host has been charged with brawling. Michael is faced with the consequences of his judgements when he sentences a man accused of assault, only to later learn that the man's employer has sacked him.

Michael is reunited with an old classmate in the lead-up to a school reunion; however, he is left wondering if they've come very far at all since the schoolyard.

An elderly journalist is arrested for shoplifting.

Michael is consumed by guilt after he hits a man with his car; however he starts to wonder if maybe there are deeper issues at play when he seeks guidance on how to deal with his feelings.