A depressed Father Joseph McCabe returns to St. Eligius; Morrison receives a visitor from Seattle; Dr. Craig seeks help for his injured hand from an old classmate; one of Axelrod's patients awakens in the morgue; and Luther plays musical air conditioners.
Wade tries to get a grip on her marital problems; Fiscus throws an engagement party for Morrison; Rosenthal figures out the self-serving Griffin; and John Doe #6 returns.
Dr. Craig behaves boorishly to his replacement, Dr. Paulette Kiem; Birch finds a radioactive patient; Papandrao claims Ehrlich as an escort to a family birthday party; a friend of Fiscus' is admitted with a major stroke; and a hospital neighbor becomes very upset when she observes Dr. Craig's imminent departure.
The Craigs try out yet another new maid; fellow employees stab Luther in the back; Axelrod is embarrassed and rude about a patient's colostomy; and Fiscus helps Mr. Ewell's daughter take him home to die.
Dr. Westphall helps a terminally ill teenager reach his parents; Griffin plays Birch and Novino off against each other to escape blame in a patient's death; Morrison calls Chandler on it when Dr. Turner gets involved in a dispute involving a sick child; and Dr. Craig tries to start his memoirs.
Dr. Turner faces a dilemma as she performs surgery on a Jehovah's Witness, who has forbidden any blood transfusions; Griffin takes positive steps to blame Birch for the patient's death; Ehrlich announces his night with Papandrao; and Dr. Craig's new typist encourages him to use his imagination.
Lizzie gets involved with Griffin; a man falls while trying to scale the hospital; Luther befriends a bag lady with Tourette's Syndrome; and John Doe #6 disappears with Dr. Craig's book.
Mandatory drug testing causes a deep division of opinion; Morrison is haunted by his day at the prison; Axelrod is assigned to guide a 14-year-old medical student around; Griffin gets a warning from Dr. Westphall about hurting Lizzie; and Dr. Craig tries to perform magic tricks for some young patients and his housekeeper.
Dr. Fiscus is shot. Afterwards, he experiences the afterlife and meets some old friends. Such people include old patients who died in the hospital, a few in limbo and a couple in heaven. However, he is condemed to hades and finds Dr. White swiming in circles for all eternity in a boat with only one oar. Meamwhile, the docs at St. Eligus try their hardest to keep Fiscus alive.
Fiscus awakens but is deeply depressed, despite a visit from his father; Dr. Craig returns to work and his office, disregarding Dr. Kiem's feelings; Dr. Westphall decides to stop seeing Novino and his moving man comes in for a penile implant.
Dr. Westphall tries to help an alcoholic poet he once admired; Dr. Craig puts his usual worst foot forward as he tries to persuade the Soviets to release Masha's husband; Rosenthal confronts McPhail about her drug problem; and Ehrlich makes friends with Papandrao's new boyfriend.
Dr. Turner finds her confidence shaken when she learns her new patient, about to undergo a risky transfusion procedure, has a malpractice suit pending at another hospital; Dr. Peltrovich arrives but has trouble getting licensed to practice medicine; and Morrison explodes during a mock war with paint guns.
Dr. Craig becomes jealous when Dr. Peltrovich is finally allowed to pursue his work with lasers; Fiscus experiences an emotional rollercoaster as he returns to work with a critical leukemia patient; and Ehrlich hits highs and lows as he accepts his ""Orphan of the Year"" award.
Axelrod allows Novino and Griffin to override his judgement; Dr. Kiem worries about her long distance marriage as she tries to help an inseparable couple make a final farewell; Luther tries to help Polly make it through a day without her medication; and Ehrlich goes to great lengths to confirm the Oseranskys' story.
Novino uncovers a pathologist selling body parts when one of her patients dies; Dr. Westphall learns that Lizzie is pregnant; Chandler and a visiting private practitioner learn something from each other, and John Doe #6 surfaces again, along with Craig's novel.
Novino tangles again with Chandler about admitting a blind street person who's not really sick; Dr. Auschlander learns he has a son he never knew; the Craigs face their grief all over again when Ellen offers Griffin a place to stay; and Wade fears for her future when she learns she needs glasses.
Rosenthal tries to help her obese daughter cope with her problems; Axelrod's father brings a dog to the hospital for chemotherapy; Dr. Turner reluctantly reveals the ultrasound results to a couple looking for the perfect baby; and Dr. Westphall continues to try and find a way to keep the hospital open.
Morrison testifies at Nick Moat's parole hearing; Dr. Kiem buries herself in work when she learns her son has taken off from home and is missing; Fiscus diagnoses multiple sclerosis in an old college friend; and the rumors fly that St. Eligius is about to become a billing center for Boston General.
Fiscus waits for a woman artificially inseminated with his sperm to give birth; three young men explore life and the hospital to relieve the boredom of their stay; Dr. Westphall relives part of his past when a childhood friend reminds him of an old pact; and Drs. Craig and Auschlander continue to search for hospital financing.
Shirley Daniels returns to the hospital as a patient; Mrs. Craig offers Griffin a place to stay; Chandler and Novino compete to see who can correctly diagnose a difficult patient; and Ehrlich and Papandrao face wedding rumors when they return from Mexico.
The representative of a foreign medical group interested in the hospital visits to absorb the psychic `aura' of the place (via flashbacks) but collapses from a heart attack before he can recommend the sale.
Luther turns sleuth to find out who is responsible for the mercy-killings; Dr. Turner takes a chance doing experimental fetal heart surgery; Axelrod gets back at Novino and Griffin; Morrison buys a gun to protect his family; Yvonne Galecki Craig comes to claim her daughter, and Ehrlich and Papandrao have second thoughts about marriage when the new owners fire everyone in the hospital.
Auschlander tries to stop the demolition of St. Eligius.