A popular and beloved teacher, Mr. McMahon, has a heart attack and dies at school. A close friend of the deceased, Principal Harper overcomes his own grief to help his students cope with the loss. To make matters worse, it appears that McMahon had been having an affair with a female senior, Karen Fitzgerald.

While Harper struggles to deal with the incident's aftermath and maintain status quo, the students and faculty begin to fall apart. A defiant pupil, Webster, spits on Lauren and she vows to have him expelled. The case becomes more complex, however, when Harper learns that Webster was close to Mr. McMahon and is extremely upset over his death. A disciplinary hearing is held and it's decided that Webster will only be suspended, much to Lauren's disgust.

Meanwhile, the distraught students hold an assembly to deal with their confusion. The kids quickly embrace God as the answer and their meeting turns into a mass prayer rally.

Eventually, Harper and Guber look into McMahon's alleged af

When Coach Riley is fired for withholding information about Buttle's affair, he hires Attorneys Ellenor Frutt and Jimmy Berluti. The stress of the lawsuit has Guber and Harper at each other's throats. Lauren discovers that Harry had dated another co-worker before her. The crossover starts on The Practice S05E14 The Day After (I).

Lauren gets a gun to protect herself from Daniel. Jeremy won't tell Marilyn what happened to his mother. Scott gives Winslow High's first student to get accepted to Harvard an F.

A wealthy attorney decides to become a teacher at the school—quickly stirring things up between her fellow teachers and the students. Meanwhile, Lipshultz gets into trouble after giving a student the wrong name and Marla is enlisted to sponsor a club of female students, which causes her to examine her own insecurity.

A student's illness rattles Senate, who's haunted by feelings of futility; a teen's eating disorder upsets Lauren, who's also unnerved by an web site advocating anorexia.

Staff and students at Winslow High struggle to get on with their lives after a number of tragic events.

A new year arrives at Winslow High and new tensions immediately arise. Brooke is caught in the middle when a group of students plan a walkout because the administration has been unable to handle crucial issues such as toxic mold in the bathrooms and overcrowded classrooms.

Harper and Guber try to talk to the students, but the students see it as another weak attempt to appease them. And when the students stage the walkout, a riot quickly ensues.

Meanwhile, Marla finds a newborn baby in the toilet and discovers that her student Amy had just given birth and left the baby in the bathroom. Amy insists that she wanted her baby and was coming back to get her. Marla rationalizes that Amy was in shock and was coming back immediately. To protect Amy, Marla tells the police that her baby was on the floor. This prompts Danny, who is highly suspicious, to tell Harper and Guber, who are then forced to notify the authorities that evening.

Senate runs into his student, Trina, while taking a drive in R

American Idol songbird Tamyra Gray, who lost the competition but won the hearts of TV audiences, makes her TV dramatic debut. Gray plays a shy Winslow student named Aisha, whose solo in an empty study hall overwhelms Marylin. So she persuades Aisha to audition for the upcoming school musical. The tryout's a disaster, but, thanks to Marylin's confidence-building, Aisha gets another shot. In other storylines, the battering of a gay teen prompts Guber to take a stand for tolerance; and a quickening crush on a fellow student ruffles a schoolgirl genius---who's 12.

Courtroom drama energizes Ronnie, who's defending two teens in a murder arraignment; high test scores by poor students prompt Guber's undercover investigation.

When a student writes a letter to Whitney Houston asking her to attend the prom with him, faculty and students are amazed that she accepts. Houston's attendance at the prom causes Aisha, who is set to perfrom, to get stage fright. Meanwhile, Harper presents a radical way to prevent the firing of teachers for budget reasons; and Danny asks Claire's father's permission to marry her.

Ronnie witnesses an attempted rape, then receives a shock when she presses for legal action on behalf of the victim (guest star Amanda Fuller); Hanson tries to prevent a student from being expelled for drugs.

A student discovers Harper and Marilyn have been secretly dating and threatens to go to the school board; Hanson and Claire try to assist a student who is having trouble with his dad.