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.

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.