The lives of the Ward 17 staff are about to change forever when an emotional Sophie battles her father-in-law to retain custody of her two young boys. With her best friends being used against her in a seemingly unwinnable custody fight, Sophie, in her desperation, makes a drastic decision about her children's future. Bron becomes emotionally involved in the fate of a car accident victim and his young daughter. Jared is an unlikely ally when a patient returns to Ward 17 for an operation he is determined will enable him to walk again.

Having responded to the scene of Sophie's car accident, Ben is having difficulty coming to terms with the aftermath of treating people he knows. Sophie and her children have survived the head-on collision resulting from her impaired driving but her friends are even more shocked when her desperate actions the night before come to light. Refusing to lose custody of her children to the man who raised her husband, Sophie confronts her father-in-law from her hospital bed putting Terri and Peter in the middle of a siege situation that will change eveyone's life. Meanwhile, Bron's fundraising netball game disintegrates when some personal agendas come into play on the court and Von's New Year's resolution seems destined to go up in smoke. A comment in the OR results in a nurse filing a report against Luke for negligence.

Terri struggles to deal with what has happened to her friends Sophie and Peter. Bron learns about the hierarchy in the ambulance organisation when she finds herself under the supervision of a strict training officer. Having been confined to desk work while recovering from his Post Traumatic Stress, Ben confronts his demons when he resuscitates a girl at a local shopping mall. Jared and Samantha's blossoming romance is tested when they disagree on a patient's diagnosis. Despite downplaying the honour publicly, Von is secretly thrilled to be chosen as Employee of the Month. Connor ignores pleas to seek treatment for his bad back — until he sets eyes on Lily, the gorgeous acupuncturist.

A busy day on the ward turns to chaos when the Health Minister is brought in as a patient. Experiencing first-hand the demands on the public health system, the Minister is sympathetic to the needs of the nursing staff but can offer nothing more than an expression of support. A lack of beds on the ward means a patient is left to recover from her operation on a trolley in the corridor. Despite protests from Steph, Luke is authorised to send the patient home early — a decision that has disastrous consequences. Terri struggles to help a Peter cope with his disabilities. Discouraged by his prognosis for recovery, Peter has difficulty adjusting to life in the hospital as a patient. Connor's visit to Lily, the beautiful acupuncturist, has embarrassing repercussions.

Terri's emotional equilibrium is tipped when an old flame and colleague, Dr. Mitch Stevens, returns to All Saints after a ten year absence. She is confronted with her past and he delights in stirring the pot. Jaz is forced to make a decision about her pregnancy while Terri and Steph have a confrontation over the issue. Jared sticks to his old-fashioned romantic ideas in his quest to win Samantha's affections. Connor's life is made difficult by a female truck driver while Ben is forced to deal with an emergency situation while on an abseiling course.

Mitch Stevens' unorthodox doctoring style brings tension — and humour — to Terri's ward. He steps on many toes as he goes but his decisions prove to be life-saving. Ben's first day back on the job as a paramedic brings unanticipated challenges for Bron when a young mother suffers an horrific tractor accident. Samantha O'Hara suffers a crisis of confidence when she makes a diagnostic mistake which affects her budding relationship with Jared while Connor becomes the unwitting pawn in a lapdancer's manipulative game. Terri steps in to care for Peter when he dismisses his homecare nurse.

In an episode about dependence between friends, partners and workmates, dependence takes the form of teamwork, friendship and co-operation for some, while for others it is a reminder of a lack of independence. A street kid holds Mitch hostage in an attempt to abduct his junkie friend from Ward 17. Bron and Ben are faced with a complicated premature childbirth which tests Bron and brings up painful memories for Ben. Terri tries to help Peter cope with his trying day as a hospital out-patient. Connor suspects a budding romance between two patients. Von's Employeee of the Month honour garners her more unwanted attention.

When a Jehovah's Witness patient is admitted for treatment, Terri and Luke find themselves on opposing sides of an ethical dilemma. Bron is forced to make some difficult decisions in order to save a life when she is caught up in an armed robbery. Mitch is devastated by the unexpected death of a patient despite his furious efforts to resuscitate her. Conner scores a double date with a surprising conclusion.

The ward is thrown into turmoil when a patient who claims to be psychic says she spoke to the ghost of Sophie Williams who comforted her through the night. The woman's claims and the associated media coverage keep the staff on edge but the arrival of one young visitor pushes Von over the edge. Terri finds herself torn between her duty as a nurse and as a nun when she tries to help a young patient confused about his sexuality. Bron and Jared find life steamy at home when Connor has a house call from Lily. Peter gets more than he bargained for when he wallows in self-pity once too often.

Peter is pushed to the limit when his life seems to be falling apart and he considers taking drastic measures. Samantha and Jared suspect a son of drugging his father but their differing approachs to the case serves to highlight their different backgrounds. Ben decides he can't wait for Steph to come around to the idea of having children and makes a momentous decision. While running the ward, Steph sends the staff mad when she takes her study too seriously. Jared and Samantha's relationship is made public, much to Jared's surprise. Luke leads a group of students on rounds and Mitch find the proper motivation to aid a patient's recovery.

Ward 17 is thrown into turmoil when Danny Bucknell is admitted as a patient to recover following a suicide attempt. It's a guilt-stricken time for Peter when his son goes missing and he comes to the realisation that it is time he focused on being a good father again. When Jaz's final attempts to make him admit to the rape fail, she makes an important life decision and announces her resignation with the intention of going back to school. Bron and Ben disagree about how best to handle the situation when they attend to a man who has been trapped under a fallen tree. Mitch picks up an interesting case from Emergency and Connor has the day from Hell when Joan Marden, the Assistant Director of Nursing, comes under his care.

Emotions on a personal level are running high when Peter shocks his friends by revealing he has resigned from All Saints, leaving Terri feeling lost and alone. Bron finds it hard to stick to ambulance procedures when a young security guard that has been shot during an armed robbery at Cougars is a friend. A young bashing victim tells Steph a secret, leaving her to decide whether to tell the police or not. Samantha finally meets Jared's mother but her hopes for making a good first impression are quickly dashed. Meanwhile, a new temporary ward clerk irritates the staff.

Professional boundaries are overstepped when Mitch and Luke clash over treatment for a girl with a brain aneurysm. Bron comes to a shocking realisation about herself when she treats a man who has failed in a suicide attempt. After discovering Ben has been going to sperm bank, Steph thinks he is obsessed with becoming a father but delivering a baby helps her understand his desperation. Meanwhile, Von is puzzled by the mysterious behaviour of one of the patients in her care and Jared accuses Bron of stealing the rent money.

Jared and Samantha's relationship is strained after he finds himself unknowingly caring for her mother when she is admitted to Ward 17 for a hip replacement and he finally learns why Sam has been hiding details of her personal life from him. Ben and Bron clash when she doesn't follow procedure while dealing with a heroin-addicted mother at the scene of a car accident. Forced to file a report on the incident, Ben then accuses Bron of taking advantage of their friendship. Von finds herself in the middle of a love triangle as she tries to keep a patient's wife and mistress from meeting one another. Luke's patient, a recovering drug addict, refuses pain medication after surgery leaving Terri to seek out alternative treatments. Meanwhile, Connor celebrates a birthdayand another temporary ward clerk joins the team.

Mitch is forced to confront his fears when a cancer patient refuses treatment. He embarks on a campaign to make his patient change his mind but ending up drunk and alone, he bangs on Terri's door. Steph gets starry-eyed about a possible promotion when Joan recommends Terri for a new position as her replacement. Bron gets the "relative from Hell" when she finds herself under constant scrutiny by a patient's daughter during her ward shift. Meanwhile, Jared blames Connor when Samantha's mother takes a fall and Ward 17 is finally sent a charming, polite and quick ward clerk… but for how long?

It's a heartbreaking time for Samantha when her mother does not respond to treatment for pneumonia and a wound infection. She finds she cannot cope with her impending death and Jared is shocked when she drops a bombshell on him. When an eager young bystander rescues an alcoholic from a blazing warehouse, Ben suspects foul play while Bron learns that ego is a dirty word. Meanwhile, Mitch uses his voodoo skills to help a deluded patient.

It's a hard day out in the field for Ben and Luke when they come into conflict over their differing approaches to saving a factory worker with his arm caught in a machine. Steph questions her choice not to have children when she nurses a successful businesswoman, diagnosed with breast cancer, who regrets giving up her child for adoption during her teenage years. Connor fears that a series of late nights may have caused him to endanger the life of a patient. Terri is concerned Jared's unresolved feelings about his break-up with Samantha are affecting his work.

Emotions run high when a patient claims to have been fully conscious during an agonising operation. While the doctors and administration dismiss the very notion, Steph fights to have the woman's concerns heard. Bron fears her prejudices may result in a young girl being separated from her junkie mother. Is it too late to stop Welfare from interferring? Connor is having trouble with his ancupuncturist girlfriend after slighting her profession and must find a way back into her good books. Recommending a patient who is refusing any pain medication may be just what he needs… or not. Meanwhile, Von is forced to enlist some male help in getting through to a troubled teenage boy.

Luke has had enough… Bron has been avoiding him and he needs to know where he stands in her life. Confronting her, Luke demands to know why she insists on messing with his emotions. Despite attempts to avoid the real issue, Bron is faced with an insistent Luke — he wants her to let him know what she wants, needs, expects from him. Bron takes that ultimatum with her on her paramedic shift. Things soon become clearer when she and Ben attend a motor vehicle accident and find an old couple injured in their campervan. When Donald refuses to leave the woman he has loved all his adult life, Bron is shown the meaning of true love. The elderly couple dies together as they would have wanted, and Bron realises that true love still exists in this messed-up world. But does it exist for her? Von is not happy with the arrival of her next-door neighbour on the ward. Hazel lives alone, is an alcohol abuser, and Von does her best to keep away from the situation as the rest of the staff debate the rights and wrongs of treating someone who is so obviously her own worst enemy. Mitch, however, is not about to give up on Hazel and puts pressure on Luke to help him ignore hospital policy and operate on the woman. Someone has to reach out and help this woman… is Luke the man to do it? Jard is smitten — in the professional sense — by the arrival of an unidentified man who does not seem to have a friend in the world. But the patient's arrival on the ward seems to coincide neatly with the outbreak of several minor fires, and Jared soon realises that his patient is a little too handy with a box of matches. Jared has to take the man with him to be constantly supervised while waiting for a psychiatric evaluation. While everyone else is trying hard to reach out to their patients, Connor is doing his damnedest to shut his up. Ralph takes incessantly, about everything, but like so many people in the world is largely dismissed. Given everything else that is happening on the ward today, Connor is compelled to take some time to get to know Ralph and is surprised to find he has a lot to offer.

Sister Bernard again questions Terri about her commitment to All Saints and apparent lack of commitment to the Order's community house. Terri is outraged to learn that Bernard has already taken the liberty of discussing the situation with the Superior General. To Bernard's way of thinking, Terri needs to make a decision about what really is the priority in her life. When Connor learns that his brother Greg has been admitted to All Saints, he is reticent about making contact. The pair has not seen each other for over a year and their relationship is far from rosy. Connor swallows his pride and arranges for his brother to come to Ward 17, hoping that this could be his chance to build bridges with his estranged sibling. But Greg's antagonistic behaviour is not making things easy for either of them. A newlywed couple begins to think they are never going to make the cruise they have booked for their honeymoon. The groom has been brought into All Saints on his wedding night following an asthma attack at the reception. Just when it looks like he is about to be discharged, he suffers another attack and Mitch has no option but to keep him under further observation. Then, when the evacuation happens, it really looks as if they will miss the boat. An unidentified male patient who attempted suicide is sent up from Emergency. He is believed to have taken a non-lethal dose of a sleeping pill. What starts out to be a straightforward babysitting job turns nasty when the patient suddenly arrests and dies. Von and Steph are in the process of laying out his body when the pathology lab puts through an urgent call to Mitch. The blood tests indicate the patient has swallowed a highly reactive agricultural chemical which has reacted with the fluid in his stomach. The dead man's body is consequently leaching toxic fumes. As a result, Ward 17 needs to be evacuated. A disaster plan is put into action. When all the patients are removed from the ward, the staff themselves are shepherded outside and ordered to take blood from and examine each other. All are told to be on the lookout for possible side effects of exposure. Realising they are dealing very much with an unknown quantity, Steph worries that her fertility may be affected. Bron is disillusioned about her career in the ambulance service. She is frustrated that she is unable to use a lot of the skills she acquired during her years of nursing. But while she and Ben are transporting a patient from Ward 17 to St Angela's, both her nursing and ambulance skills are required to help treat a fitting patient. This experience renews her commitment to the ambulance service and she decides to study for her Level 2 exams.

Working on Ward 17 as an agency nurse, Bron is allocated a patient, Phil Oram, who has no memory of the accident in which he lost his wife and child. When he meets Bron he does remember something — Bron attended the accident as an ambulance officer. But while he remembers Bron, she has no memory of him, nor even of attending the scene. Plagued with guilt that she could forget a patient, Bron is placed under greater pressure when she realises that every time Phil sees her, more memories are triggered. He reaches a point where he wants the memories to stop. He is tortured by the thought that his wife died while he was blaming her for the death of their son. Unable to change patients, Bron is forced to help Phil come to terms with his memories. In the process, she starts to remember the accident and has to come to terms with the reason why she blocked that particular accident from her mind. Terri meets with the Superior General of her Order. She expects support from her old friend, but instead is confronted with some unwelcome home truths. Terri is asked to consider living outside the community house for a while and is forced to make some major decisions about her future. Luke performs a simple tonsillectomy on Zap McCafferty, a young singer and musician. Everything goes well in theatre but on his return to the ward Zap starts to display unusual symptoms. Luke is at a loss to understand what is wrong with his patient. He has to consider taking him back to theatre for an exploratory operation. Finally he uses all medical skills to diagnose a rare and life-threatening disease. Jared is fearful that both he and Von may be starting to display ongoing symptoms as a result of being exposed to toxic chemical fumes. Mitch examines him, takes tests and is able to relieve him of his concerns. However, Von's symptoms are not so easily explained. Bron and Jared are not comfortable with Connor's brother, Greg, staying in their house. Connor is trying desperately to rebuild his relationship with Greg and help him get his life back on track after the break-up of his marriage and the loss of his job. But Greg is being a less than gracious houseguest. When Jared comes home early from work he discovers why Greg's life is on a downhill slide.

Teenaged twins Alan and Brett Cameron [originally seen in episode 1.39, although not by these actors] suffer from cystic fibrosis and have been on a long waiting list for lung transplants. Their overall health has deteriorated recently with Alan bedridden at home with pseudomonas. Brett has the same condition but is not quite as acutely ill as his brother. Alan has been brought on to Ward 17 for treatment. The staff know Alan and his brother very well — they have been regular patients at All Saints all their lives, and they are extremely well-informed about their cystic fibrosis and its complications. The twins are bonded in age, temperament and, most of all, their illness. Now, for the first time in their lives, they are going to be separated by something they never anticipated: good health. When a lung transplant becomes a possibility, one of them will have a ticket to health, leaving the other behind. This creates feelings of guilt, isolation and bitterness they never anticipated. Meanwhile, Connor is having his own sibling problems. He has to decide what to do when Jared finally tells him he caught Connor's brother Greg injecting heroin in the bathroom. Connor's initial hope of helping his brother is shattered when he finds Greg stealing. But what can he do to help Greg when he won't try to help himself? Steph is nursing Seb Connelly, a sixteen-year-old Aboriginal kid from a small country town. Seb has relocated to Sydney on a football scholarship and contract and is in Ward 17 after an appendectomy. The chance discovery that he has only one kidney could have terrible repercussions for his career. Terri's excitement about living alone is counterbalanced by the potential hurdles in her new life away from the community. Fortunately Von is there to guide her. Bron, who had apparently kicked the gambling demon, is in danger again. When Greg Costello steals her rent money she has to find a way to get some cash in a hurry.

Ben and Bron are called to a suburban house and soon realise that the occupant, although a fully grown man, is severely developmentally delayed. It takes the police's arrival to gain entrance to the house, where the young man's grandmother lies dead at the kitchen table. During the laying-out process, Thomas panics, runs from the house and is hit by a car. Although he is not badly injured, Bron feels responsible, and stays with him during his admission to Ward 17. Thomas clings to Bron as a familiar face and is comforted when she is back the following day as an agency nurse. He bonds with her but she just cannot manage to explain to him that his nanna is not coming back. Meanwhile, the hospital social worker assesses Thomas and decides to recommend to Community Services that Thomas should be institutionalised. Somehow Bron can't bring herself to give up on the idea Thomas could have a brighter future than this. Von is touched by the plight of one of her patients. Hilary is a middle-aged woman with terminal cancer who draws Von into her scheme to find a new companion for her husband, Owen. At first Von is helping with the 'interviews' but it soon becomes clear to Hilary that Von could be the perfect candidate. And maybe Von is allowing herself to think the same way — it helps that she and Owen get on like a house on fire and have bonded over their memories of serving in Vietnam during the war. Jared is looking after a young diabetic man, Leo, who has gone on a bender. Mitch, although feeling sorry for the state the guy is in, has little time for people who refuse to take their treatment seriously. Jared suspects that something is amiss but then it is Mitch who finally gets the young man to tell the story of how he was raped. Terri has moved from the community house into a modest flat and invited her workmates around for a low-key celebration. But All Saints staff work hard and play hard and the 'few drinks' look like turning into a full-on party — especially when Connor spikes the punch. And, after Mitch's jokes about booking a stripper as a housewarming present, Terri is suspicious when he arrives with a police escort.

Bron is going all-out to help mentally disabled patient Thomas with his assessment for placement by Community Services. She believes he is capable of living in a share household with minimum supervision and this would help him develop further — rather than being institutionalised. But there is a major setback when Thomas is distressed by a casual shift nurse and then refuses to practise any of the life skills (feeding and dressing himself) which Bron has been helping him learn. Terri points out that Bron will just have to start over again but time is running out as the second assessment is due later in the day. Ben and John are the ambos called out to a house by Kerri Williams. When they arrive, Kerri's husband, Gareth, is unconscious on the floor as a result of a domestic argument. When Ben sees Kerri about to shake her crying baby, he intervenes. As Ben grabs the baby, Kerri falls. She ends up in Ward 17, feeling very much the victim despite her behaviour. Steph is shocked when she hears Kerri say she has been assaulted by an ambulance officer. Unaware that the woman has embroidered her story and that the ambulance officer is Ben, Steph encourages Kerri to report the incident. This results in a huge rift between husband and wife, with Ben accusing Steph of not knowing him at all if she thinks him capable of such behaviour. Steph is left out on a limb when she discovers that Kerri has a history of ill-treatment of her children and was very likely to have been lying to cover her own actions. The episode ends with Ben telling Steph that he thinks the marriage is over. Daniel Parker is a man in his 50s, recently divorced and with a new young girlfriend in her mid-20s. He is very optimistic as he goes into surgery for cancer of the bowel, choosing not to believe the condition will result in any permanent damage. When he wakes to find he has had a colostomy, he does not trust his young partner Kate to stand by him. And, rather than giving her a chance, he sets out to drive her away. Daniel focuses his hope on his ex-wife Angela — not considering she may also have moved on with her life since she ended the marriage.

Terri becomes suspicious about the reasons for a man's repeat hospital visits. Neil has been admitted to All Saints for a variety of complaints over recent months. And now he is being prepped for an appendicectomy. After more than a decade in nursing, Terri knows patients sometimes develop a crush on their nurse but she begins to think there is something much stranger behind Neil's run of accidents and illnesses. Luke's problems with Neil's case are compounded by having to supervise middle-aged intern, Dr. Ashok Patel. Luke immediately sizes him up as a dithering pedant. Even patient, Russel Woods, wonders whether Ashok knows what he is doing. And Jared finds himself in the unenviable position of trying to keep Luke, Ashok and Russell all happy, while at the same time trying to quell his own doubts about Ashok's methods. But Ashok refuses to dismiss Russell's breathing problems as asthma. Bron and Ben are called out to a near-drowning and bring in teenager Cathy Maxwell. Cathy is brought up to Ward 17 and is put under Mitch and Steph's care. She is a bright and talented girl and it looks like she will be able to be discharged quickly into the care of her loving parents. So the shocking and unpredictable actions he takes when no-one is looking causes Mitch to completely re-evaluate his treatment of her and land Steph in trouble. Mitch has noted that Steph is "away with the pixies" all day — no one is aware that Ben has walked out on her. Terri does her best to find out what is behind Steph's behaviour but she is not ready to talk. Neither is Ben — but he is stuck on the job with the ever inquisitive Bron and it is not long before she starts putting the pieces of the puzzle together. And Ward 17 has another new ward clerk. Tony Hurst is young and competent, with just the sort of bubbly personality that keeps the ward upbeat. He is a secure gay guy and while it is not a problem for him, it does seem to make Connor uncomfortable — and that encourages Tony to stir just that little bit more and consequently Connor to be a little more uptight.