The ER is under the bright lights when a television documentary is filmed depicting a typical day in the ER. British trauma specialist Elizabeth Corday joins the staff. Carter restarts his residency, this time in the ER. A man is paralyzed while breaking up a gang fight. Morganstern suffers a heart attack. Greene's stress level continues to build.

Dr. Morganstern gives Weaver increased authority while he recuperates from his heart attack. Dr. Corday adjusts to the differences between British and U.S. ERs. Dr. Greene is served with a wrongful death suit from the Law family. Carter trains an inept, undedicated med student. Mark and Carol interview applicants for a vacant desk clerk position. Benton and Carla name their son: Reese Benton.

Carol's trust in Doug is strained when she overhears an errant comment. Weaver puts her newfound power to use immediately. Jerry commits a large-scale blunder with a patient's rocket launcher; Weaver advises him to take some vacation time. Carter suspects Doyle of giving Anna preferential treatment. Cynthia Hooper works her first day as a desk clerk. Benton and Carla argue over circumcision. Mark can't get it up with Heather Morgan. Al Boulet is involved in a mishap at work and must tell a coworker about his HIV status.

The ER is flooded with injured children following a school bus accident. Greene turns surly when Jenn refuses to let Rachel visit until he cleans up his act. Jeanie faces a crisis when she's forced to use her hand to stop a patient from bleeding. Carter demands that Benton stop treating him like a student, and start treating him as an equal. Carter and Anna get new students, with Carter getting the short shrift once again. A junkie mother claims that Carol dropped her newborn child. Al Boulet loses his job. Reese is discharged from the hospital.

Mark undergoes deposition with the Law family for their lawsuit. Jeanie and Al are involved in a barroom brawl. Carol mulls the idea of opening a free health care clinic. Carter successfully diagnoses a serious injury, only to have Edson steal the credit. Benton's familial duties earn him a waist-high stack of back paperwork. A Dr. Romano returns from a European sabbatical, pioneering the latest in robotics technology. Anna treats a young man with testicular cancer.

Kerry investigates Synergix, an ER management group specializing in balancing budgets. She is later forced to fire Jeanie. In turn, Jeanie is asked by Al to move to Atlanta with him. Greene is still suffering from the aftereffects of his attack, snapping at patients and staff alike. Dr. Ross is stunned by a collect phone call from California informing him of his father's death. Benton clashes with Corday after she apparently "steals" a rare procedure out from under his nose. Carol meets with Carter's grandmother to pitch her idea for a free health clinic. Anna is perturbed when she discovers Carter's wealthy background.

Doug goes to California with tag-along Mark to identify his father's body and put his affairs to rest. Doug deals with his father's legacy while Mark visits his family in San Diego for the first time in years.

Benton takes advantage of a grieving father for a chance to write a paper on a boy with reversed internal organs. George Henry returns to complete his clerkship and suffers a near fatal attack. Jeanie confronts Kerry and Anspaugh over what she perceives as wrongful termination. Cynthia's error forces the free clinic to open a week early; Carol enlists new ER nurse Yosh to help out. Mark strikes a deal with attorney Herb Spivak for legal representation.

Dr. Carter is arrested when he refuses to honor a warrant seeking evidence in a domestic abuse incident. Corday is overjoyed to be able to perform a rare femoral transplant. Doug returns from California. Benton and Corday discover that they have a lot in common. Cynthia takes Rachel to the dentist--and other places. Jeanie threatens to sue to get her job back, to Kerry's dismay. Anspaugh rehires her, and Al leaves for Atlanta without her. Ellis West invites Kerry to St. Bart's.

Benton is hailed as a miracle worker after he seemingly heals a blind man. Corday operates on Allison Beaumont again. Mark discovers Cynthia's hidden past. Carter discovers his cousin Chase shooting heroin. Greene treats an elderly rape victim, learning about forgiveness. Kerry is apparently seeing Ellis West now. Carol and Doug announce their relationship to the staff.

Another elderly rape victim is brought into the ER. Carter picks up an aspiring med student at a seminar he taught and brings her to the ER for a brief lesson. "Wild Willy" Swift returns as a Synergix attending physician. Romano clases with Corday after she goes over his head for Allison Beaumont. Dr. Anspaugh's son comes into the ER with cancer-like symptoms. Carol and Doug argue over marriage.

Carter takes time off to help Chase kick his heroin addiction. Doug confides in Mark that he plans to marry Carol in a surprise ceremony. Carol spoils his plans with a spontaneous kiss with EMT Greg Powell. Benton and Corday visit a bar together after another frustrating Romano day. Scott Anspaugh and Jeanie bond when tests reveal that his cancer has returned. Kerry becomes disenchanted with Ellis West and Synergix after discovering that they close most trauma centers that they acquire.

Carter faces a dilemma during a blood shortage when a serial rapist is in need of a transfusion. Carol and Kerry deliver the baby of a mentally challenged couple who fear a relative is going to take the child away. Benton turns down Corday's romantic offer. Kerry actively campaigns against Synergix. Doug comes to grips with his relationship with Carol and tells her that he'll wait for as long as she needs.

Mark, with surprise guest Cynthia, returns to San Diego to be with his ailing mother. While trying to diagnose his mother's condition, Mark decides that he and Cynthia have no future together and tries to come to terms with his seemingly distant father.

The ER must be evacuated when several workers at a chemical plant track benzine all over the floors. After Weaver is felled by the poison, Carter takes over, directing the evacuation. Dr. Corday does a ride-along with EMTs and rescues a man trapped under a building. Doug and Carol are trapped in the elevator with a sick child.

Several heroin ODs are brought into the ER, including Chase Carter. Mark tries to track down Cynthia. Anna treats a John Doe sent from another hospital because he had no insurance. Doug accuses two parents of child abuse, but finds out that their child is disturbed. Benton and Corday run into his sister Jackie. Scott Anspaugh finishes his chemotherapy.

Corday tries an experimental new procedure on an Asian gentleman without permission from wither the patient or a relative. Scott Anspaugh, finally released from the hospital, suffers an attack during a wall-climbing expedition with Jeanie. They discover that he will need a bone marrow transplant. Benton accidentally backs into a pedestrian at a gas station. Dr. Morganstern makes his return to the ER, with a new outlook on life and his patients. Carter visits Chase, who is brain-dead.

Dr. Ross wants to become an ER pedes attending. Scott Anspaugh decides to stop fighting when faced with the prospect of an experimental new chemotherapy treatment. Jerry and Mark take charge of the annual ER banquet. Benton is forced to take over an operation by force when Morganstern is unable to continue. Carol worries that Millicent Carter retracted the funds for her clinic. Anna donates bone marrow.

The bombing of an abortion clinic brings in many victims, pregnant women and protestors alike. Benton is temporarily suspended after his incident with Morganstern comes to light, until Morganstern decides to resign. Benton later shares a kiss with Corday. Carter cares for an elderly patient who appears to be the victim of neglect. Scott Anspaugh is buried.

It's another busy night in the ER, as case after case comes through the doors. Hathaway comforts a burn victim in his dying hours. Carter and Anna struggle with a man afflicted with celebral palsy. Dr. Ross deals with an infant's heroin addiction and its drug-addicted mother. Weaver cares for an elderly couple who may have AIDS. Peter and Elizabeth decide to keep their relationship a secret.

A televangelist broadcasts from inside the ER. Doug, with Carol's help, attempts a detox of Josh McLean, the methadone addicted infant, instead of returning him to his mother. Del Amico's old boyfriend shows up, conducting a feasibility study for a pediatric ward in the ER. Jeanie begins exhibiting pneumonia-like symptoms. Romano realizes Benton and Corday are together.

Greene and Weaver threaten Doug over his illegal treatment of Josh McLean. Dr. Rosher ingratiates himself with Anspaugh. Corday receives a letter from Romano informing her that he won't be sponsoring her for another year. A despondent patient shocks Carol with an unusually violent act. Kerry becomes upset when Anspaugh tells her that even though she has been Acting Chief of Emergency Medicine for a year, the hospital still plans a nationwide search for a permanent one. Carter accuses Max of taking some Percocet from a medicine cabinet. Benton arranges a hearing test after a day care worker tells him that Reese is unresponsive.