Camille has an innocent and unavoidable mishap in the operating room during a heart transplant on the rabbi who performed her wedding ceremony to Aaron, and blames herself when the rabbi dies later, even though her mishap had nothing to do with his death; an inexperienced new nurse stands up to Arthur; wracked with guilt, Camille reveals the operating room mishap to the rabbi's widow, and only Alan's ingenuity in demanding an autopsy keeps the hospital from a major lawsuit; Aaron and Camille have it out over his lack of emotional support after the rabbi's death, and each of them admit to the hurt caused by their divorce.

Dr. Kronk's feelings towards his girlfriend undergo changes when he find out about her past. Geiger's heart patient develops an aneurysm which would take him off the heart recipient list unless highly experimental methods are tried. Meanwhile, Dr. Hancock's ejection from his clinic leads to bringing the HMO provider into the courtroom.

Grad and Kronk reluctantly team up to counsel an inexperienced couple on sexual techniques. Dr. Sutton finds himself unnerved by a sexually precocious young woman at Dr. Hancock's clinic. Aaron tries befriending a resident, but finds himself misinterpretted.

Tommy places a bid to buy out the hospital with the intention of firing Kate as soon as the deal goes through; as Valerie continues her affair with Danny, Jack lets Danny know that he's aware of their relationship; Elizabeth is readmitted after Andy beats her again, and Andy takes his revenge when Dennis attempts to help his sister escape the cycle of spousal abuse; a mysterious biohazard accompanies a patient admitted to the E.R., and immediately begins to fell the staff; after Kate pleads the hospital's case, Jack agrees to counter Tommy's offer, but only if Phillip fires Danny; Kate and Tommy threaten to expose each other's secrets; after Diane's work for the last two years is called into question and her grant money is suspended, she decides to go to Africa to do research with a colleague; Tommy courts Aaron's support; feeling under-appreciated and ill-respected, Camille resigns; realizing that Tommy will stop at nothing to destroy her, a desperate Kate flees with their daughter an

Kate returns to Chicago to face possible arrest and her ex-husband, as well as suspension at work. Aaron ponders Philip's bitterness over Aaron's apparent support of Tommy Wilmette. Dennis struggles to regain his health. Dr. Nyland returns to find a new doctor in charge of the trauma service. Kronk and Grad continue to quarrel as he prepares to leave Africa.

Kate cares for her dying father and gets some words of wisdom from Tommy when he brings Sara for a visit; Philip recruits Dr. Jack McNeil to head up orthopedics; Diane returns, only to find that Billy has remained in Africa and that her lab has turned into a storage room; Keith places himself in legal jeopardy when he decides to help an injured drug courier evade arrest; Aaron persuades Tommy to give the hospital six months to turn itself around with Philip at the helm.

Austin's cystic-fibrosis patient is just one of four patients needing transplants who have to wait in fear and hope when a potential donor appears but is prematurely pronounces dead and entered into the donor system by the inexperienced Eggert.

Kate flies to Washington with Tommy to speak to Congress about health care. Back in Chicago, her friend Marina makes a decision about adoption. McNeil's patint Harriett Owens is hospitalized again.

After a gang member dies in the ER, the boy's mother claims that one of the doctors suggested they ""Let him die"" so a prosecutor calls in Wilkes, Nyland, McNeil and Watters for widely varying statements about what actually happened during the crucial time period.

Jeffrey Geiger drops by Chicago Hope to announce that he has bought a controlling interest in the hospital, and to perform a deicate heart operation on one of Kate's patients. Kronk is forced to take over caring for his father, who's afflicted with Alzheimers. Aaron and Jack ponder the meaning of religion and God when several people claim to be seeing an image of the Virgin Mary in the hospital lobby. Wilkes takes action concerning his future.

Gang warfare breaks out in the E.R.; Kate refuses to perform a heart transplant; Billy and Diane get back together.

Dr. Shutt views his life as a musical after he collapses from an aneurism.

Dr. McNeil attends a medical convention in Las Vegas, believing he can control his gambling addiction. After the son of a close friend dies, McNeil begins gambling again. Watters, Shutt, and Wilkes are forced to share a room in the hotel, when it is overbooked for the convention.

A poisonous gas is released in a bank and the doctors try to contain the gas, that is threatening many lives including Dr. Hancock.

A celebrity dies and news crews invade the hospital to cover the story.

Aaron consults Dr. Gina Simon, a pediatric neurosurgeon after being presented with a 9-week old baby suffering from seizures. Jeffrey Geiger returns to the hospital and promptly fires half the staff, whom then sue to get their jobs back.

McNeil goes against procedure and red tape and performs a hip replacement surgery. Shutt and Simon transplant a computer into a patients brain. Alberghetti tries to ignore her feelings for Miller.