Present: M.E. takes over the wedding plans when Rene is forced to attend a hearing; Rene returns home to a perfectly planned wedding, and marries Turk; Catherine and Sara make peace; Kelly and Ajoni announce that they're staying in Birmingham; M.E. and Rene reminisce about their friendship. Past: Teresa wants to move to Hollywood in hopes of becoming a movie star; M.E. plans to run away to Atlantic City to attend a march; Rene is barred from a pageant because she's black.

Present: Mary Elizabeth Sims, a Birmingham wife, mother, and aspiring writer, reaches out to her estranged childhood friend Rene Jackson, a prominent Washington attorney, when she returns home upon the death of her father. The friends reconcile, and Rene decides to remain in Birmingtham and take over her father's law practice. Past: It's 1962, and Mary Elizabeth and Rene strike up a friendship over a shoplifted pack of cigarettes. Rene, a recent transplant from Detroit, has difficulty adjusting to the segregated South.

Present: Tillie Sims arrives for a visit and once again puts her son in jeopardy when a loan shark follows her from Florida looking for the money she owes him, prompting M.E. to give Tillie an ultimatum; worried that April's incoherent behavior means that she has a substance abuse problem, Rene forces her to take a drug test, which turns out negative; when April begins to exhibit delusional behavior, Rene gets Mrs. Samuels' permission to take her to a doctor. Past: After James is attacked by the police during the march on Selma, Elston and James disagree about the effectiveness of non-violent protest; after federal troops are sent in to protect the marchers, the entire Jackson family joins the march; Rene is forced to reconsider the practice of non-violence when she is tormented by Tully's constant bullying; Colliar's mother doesn't intervene when he is abused by his father.

Present: After M.E. finds an empty beer bottle in the living room the morning after Kelly's party, she grounds her daughter for three weeks, even though Kelly tells her she didn't see anyone drinking; Rene pleads Kelly's case to M.E. by reminding M.E. how wild her own teenage years were and M.E. tells her to mind her own business, so she remains silent when she sees Kelly sneaking out of the house; Kelly is arrested for underage drinking when the driver of the car she's riding in is pulled over for driving under the influence, and she calls Rene from jail instead of her parents, which causes another argument between M.E. and Rene; Rene represents a woman whose son was threatened by a fellow student with a gun and who tragically takes matters into his own hands when the school administration fails to move quickly enough to help him; M.E. patches up her differences with Kelly and Rene. Past: Teresa takes her revenge after she discovers M.E. and Rene spying on her makeout session with her

While dining at a restaurant with Rene, Mary Elizabeth (M.E.) mistakenly assumes a black woman walking by is a waitress. The incident ignites a heated debate between Rene and M.E. about modern day racism and leads M.E. to examine the topic in a freelance article for the magazine she was recently fired from. As part of her investigation, M.E. interviews her Uncle Jimmy, who is in the Ku Klux Klan, and learns that racism still exists in its harshest forms. After the article is published, M.E. finds a cross burning in her front yard. Meanwhile, Rene searches for a new office assistant and is upset that Bill, who is away at a seminar, has not called her. Past: Rene's father, James, prosecutes a legal case against the city for preventing black men from taking the exam to become police officers. Rene pleads with her father to drop the case after M.E.'s Uncle Jimmy threatens that something bad will happen to their family if he does not.

Present: Rene represents a woman whose rapist is suing her for shared custody and visitation rights to the child conceived during the rape; M.E. confronts Kelly about her failing grades at school. Past: After M.E. learns something about black families from Rene, she begins to confront the bigoted attitudes voiced by her parents and their opposition to her friendship with Rene.

Present: M.E. and Colliar are proven correct in blaming Uncle Jimmy for coordinating the cross burning when his name is discovered on the membership list of an online hate group that has targeted Rene and Sara on their ""hit list""; Rene files a civil suit against Uncle Jimmy; Bill and Rene discuss the future of their relationship. Past: As James proceeds with his civil rights suit against the police department, Sara and Rene are pulled over and threatened by a police officer while they are driving on an isolated road, and they see Jimmy O'Brien sitting in the patrol car; James and Sara discuss whether they should stay and fight or return to Detroit.

Present: Nick hires an election strategist who rubs Rene the wrong way when she attempts to ""lighten up"" Rene's image by setting her up for an endorsement by a politically influential group whose color-struck policies and members she abhors; although the Sims and Williams families agree to support Kelly and Ajoni in keeping their baby, Colliar continues to have a hard time dealing with Kelly's pregnancy. Past: M.E. humiliates Rene in front of Henry when she pushes her in the pool and ruins her hair, so Rene forces M.E. to sit with her through the four-hour ordeal of getting her hair relaxed.

Rene's stalker is still around and she has to get a restraining order. M.E. and Colliar are beginning their own construction business. Past: Rene and M.E. sneak out to a carnival and stumble upon a Klan rally.

Present: M.E. realizes that she forgot Bobby's birthday for the first time in the 22 years since his death. When she goes to the cemetary to visit his grave, she is horrified to discover that the cemetary has made an error and dug up his grave. In her grief and anger, she seeks Rene's legal assistance and ends up confronting her about not attending Bobby's funeral. These painful memories also put a strain on M.E. and Colliar's relationship because of the difference in how they each express grief and guilt over Bobby's death. Rene, frustrated by her relationship with Bill, begins a quest to figure out what men want and Joe tries to convince her to pick his brain as a part of her research. Past: Teresa loses her virginity and tells Rene and M.E. that they should never trust boys. Colliar manages to convince M.E. that he'll never hurt her, and they share their first real kiss.

Present: When Kelly follows in her mother's footsteps, M.E. and Colliar are thrilled by her being elected to the homecoming court and have a complete meltdown after she reveals that she's pregnant; Rene is appalled when she discovers that rapes are being deliberately underreported by the police and underprosecuted by her opponent. Past: M.E. and Colliar go through a difficult patch; Rene gets a new boyfriend named Henry.

Present: Rene represents a woman who was fired when she protested against her employer's preferential treatment of workers with children; M.E. helps Kelly and Ajoni move into their new apartment; Matthew's demetia worsens; Rene realizes why she lives alone as M.E. begins to wear out her welcome; Colliar seeks out Rene's help when M.E. seriously begins to contemplate a divorce; inspired by how Catherine cares for Matthew during difficult times, M.E. moves back home, but into Kelly's old room. Past: The O'Briens are devastated when Johnny is killed in Vietnam; when the Jacksons come to pay their respects, Matthew asks Rene to come into the house and visit with M.E.

Present: Stacy introduces Rene to a handsome and opinionated judge, who ends up hearing the case of a Native American artist Rene represents when a controversy arises over a Holocaust mural he painted for a museum; M.E.'s back goes out, and she wiles away her recuperation by making friends with her new neighbor's little boy. Past: Rene tries to keep her father from discovering that she's dating a senior.

Mary Elizabeth solicits the help of her family and Rene in caring for her aging Grandma Otis. Meanwhile, Rene is asked to represent a boy whose family refuses to give him his inheritance because he belongs to a spiritual group they believe is a cult. Past: With Rene's help, Grandma Otis teaches M.E. how to have a loving heart.

Rene is reunited with her cousin who has spent the past 20 years passing for a white man. M.E. and Colliar bid on a construction company. Past: Rene worships her aunt who encourages her to sing in the church choir, while M.E. gets pushed aside.

Rene embraces the holiday season, but things turn sour when her attempts at planning a holiday party for the lawyers association fall flat. Luckily, she is still able to have a great Christmas with Elston, his partner and their son, Victor. M.E. is determined to have one more old-fashioned family Christmas, but things go awry when Ajoni proposes to Kelly on Christmas Day. Past: The girls begin a tradition of donating gifts to those who are less fortunate.

Tension runs high as M.E. helps Kelly get ready for the wedding. Rene tries to convince one of her clients to leave her abusive husband. Ajoni and a very pregnant Kelly get married and spend their wedding night at the Sims house. Past: M.E. smokes Theresa's marijuana, mistaking it for a cigarette. Rene and M.E. argue about courage as Rene prepares a care package for Elston in Canada.

Present: Rene represents a 14-year-old boy in a custody dispute; M.E., Colliar, Rene, and Turk go to a night club where the ""comedian"" targets M.E. and another woman with offensive comments about their size; when the other woman asks M.E. to join her in a class-action lawsuit to protest this harassment, M.E., with the help of a little straight talking from Rene, is forced to face the truth about about her body image and weight obsession issues; Colliar and M.E. take turns speaking to Turk about his intentions towards Rene; after M.E. gives her some wise advice about marriage and relationships, Rene faces the truth about her feelings and proposes to Turk. Past: Rene and M.E. trace their family histories for a school project and discover the historical links between their races; after Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated, the girls arrange for their mothers to meet, and Sara and Catherine realize that they share a common bond of grief over his death.

Present: Rene falls for the reporter assigned to do a story on her for the ""Birmingham Daily"" while turning down both Garrett and Graham; Colliar gets a job as a car salesman after he discovers that his back injury means that he can't do manual labor any longer; M.E. and Colliar sue their litigious and cantankerous neighbor after she has Scout impounded for knocking her down while trying to protect Davis and Kelly when she attacked them with a rake. Past: During the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, M.E. becomes very frightened that Birmingham will be bombed and stays close to home, leading Rene to question whether they're still friends. Grandma Otis invites the girls over for a slumber party.

Rene is sued for malpractice by a former client and his wife; so she hires Joe Lozano, an attractive attorney to whom she rents office space, to defend her. However, Rene learns that the way Joe wins cases isn't all that ethical....M.E.'s daughter, Kelly, dyes her hair black and hangs goth paraphernalia in her room. While M.E. struggles to accept Kelly's new lifestyle, Kelly insists that being into goth has nothing to do with contemplating suicide. M.E. also worries that Kelly doesn't want to go to college. Past: After attending a service at a Baptist church with Rene, M.E. decides to convert from Catholicism, which makes her mother furious.

Present: After M.E. is selected for jury duty, she mounts a one-woman jury nullification campaign when she refuses to convict an elderly woman who was charged with drug trafficking for growing and distributing marijuana to cancer patients; Rene represents Charley Majors when the U.S. Attorney's Office goes after him for painting pictures of U.S. currency; M.E. continues to meet with a therapist to uncover the reasons for her eating disorder; Rene wonders exactly what she and Turk are to each other, and begins to pull away when he introduces her to his former flame as a ""friend and colleague""; Turk tells her he loves her and is determined not to let her go, even though she is afraid to get close to him; after a few days apart, Rene realizes how much she loves him, and they are reunited. Past: M.E.'s and Rene's teacher begins to date Uncle Jimmy, and Rene suffers the consequences when they tell her that he's a member of the Klan.

Present: Rene represents a white couple prevented from adopting their black foster daughter; M.E. has an ectopic pregnancy which leaves her feeling a mixture of sadness, guilt, and relief; Rene tells M.E. about getting an abortion while she was in law school; M.E. starts an internship at a local paper. Past: Johnny gets grounded for taking M.E. and Rene to a drive-in for a soda and then protesting when the manager refuses to serve Rene; M.E. feels responsible for her father's migraine after she wishes he would get a new brain that wasn't hateful; after Johnny becomes ashamed when he concurs with his girlfriend's bigotry toward Rene, he stands up to Uncle Jimmy's racism and asks M.E. to tell Rene that he's sorry; Uncle Jimmy threatens the O'Briens with Klan retaliation over M.E.'s friendship with Rene.

Present: The fur flies at the Sims and Williams households when M.E discovers Ajoni asleep in Kelly's room one morning, even though both teenagers insist that nothing is going on between them; Ajoni's parents are upset about the interracial relationship and concerned that Kelly will keep Ajoni from attending college; after Ajoni's father throws him out of the house when he persists in dating Kelly, M.E. and Colliar allow him to stay with them; Rene and Joe explore the possibility of expanding their relationship. Past: Rene incurs the wrath of her beloved Cookie Grandma when M.E. reveals that Rene has a crush on a white boy.

Present: Rene starts down the long slow road to recovery at breakneck speed. Although she is weak and in pain, she is determined to tough it out on her own without any help from anyone, both at home and the office. While she is in the hospital, she dreams that her father is at her bedside telling her, ""My little soldier can take care of herself"", something he said often when she was younger. Despite pleas by Sara, M.E., Turk and Joe to take it slowly and let them support her, she remembers her father's words and rushes to regain control of her life and get things back to normal, even after Sara tells her that her normal has changed. Against the advice of her doctor, she insists upon getting a copy of the videotape that was made during her surgery. As soon as she is home, she shoos everyone anyway and watches the tape. The stress of seeing the video, coupled with how hard she has pushed herself to recover, causes her to collapse and be rushed to the emergency room. When she returns from

Present: Approaching their 26th wedding anniversary, M.E. and Colliar are at odds and they each seek out Rene for answers about the other; Rene struggles to interject a note of friendship into a relationship with a new man who doesn't seem to want anything but sex; Colliar's plans for a romantic anniversary celebration turn out well, if not out quite the way he expected. Past: After M.E. gets into a scrap with Tully, Catherine insists that she attend charm school; Colliar and M.E. share their first kiss.