Jeffrey runs afoul of the trustees when a grieving husband has second thoughts after allowing him to test an artificial heart on the body of the man's newly deceased wife; Alan comes to the rescue when a patient's HMO refuses to cover Aaron's operating on her very complicated and potentially fatal brain tumor; Jeffrey visits his wife Laurie, a straitjacketed patient in a mental hospital who apologizes for drowning their son Joey; Arthur's refusal to remove his wagging finger from Jeffrey's face during an argument leaves him with a bitten digit, and enables Jeffrey to diagnose the curable medical condition that's causing Arthur's resting tremor.

White supremacists on the run following a failed assassanation attempt against the President hole up in a grocery store with an injured member and demand a doctor from Chicago Hope to treat him.

Austin's cystic-fibrosis patient is just one of four patients needing transplants who have to wait in fear and hope when a potential donor appears but is prematurely pronounces dead and entered into the donor system by the inexperienced Eggert.

Jeffrey Geiger drops by Chicago Hope to announce that he has bought a controlling interest in the hospital, and to perform a deicate heart operation on one of Kate's patients. Kronk is forced to take over caring for his father, who's afflicted with Alzheimers. Aaron and Jack ponder the meaning of religion and God when several people claim to be seeing an image of the Virgin Mary in the hospital lobby. Wilkes takes action concerning his future.

Geiger's bravado is put to the test when hospital counsel Alan Birch is shot by street thugs. Meanwhile, Grad agonizes over not being able to help Alan and Watters regrets his recent harsh words with the lawyer.

Aaron faces a huge moral dilemma when he's asked to operate on a death-row inmate scheduled to be executed in two weeks. McNeil treats a feisty old lady whose daughter is an old flame os his. Dr. Watters entertains an amnesiac, believing that he's a distinguished visiting doctor.

A hit-and-run victim escapes serious injury but her infant twins face a desperate crisis. Hancock faces testifying in court against his brother-in-law. Patient Linda Fortin's heart continues to grow weaker as her pregnancy progresses, endangering herself and her baby.

Aaron and Phillip announce that they are buying the hospital from Wilmette, although their plans for keping the solvent do not please any of their colleagues. An HMO lawyer obsessed with ""patient responsibilty"" holds the reins on some lucrative coronary-bypass business. A patient with private insurance receives test after test for all of his petty complaints.

Aaron discovers that his late father wasn't his biological parent when he meets the eccentric sculptor who is; Phillip learns something about his estranged son when an emergency arises; Kate treats an 11 year-old genius who hungers for contact with his overwhelmed father.

After a little too much holiday cheer Wilkes is charged with a DUI and must serve a community service in Dr. Hancock's clinic. Watters discovers that his accountant has left the country with Watters money. Shutt turns over a patient to Catera, and the two clash over whether she should perform a dangerous surgery on the patient. Dr. McNeil is elected to play Santa and is a huge hit in the childrens ward. Grad receives her Christmas present a little early.

Diane is faced with a dilemna when she has an opportunity to examine a 500-year-old Incan mummy temporarily in town for an exhibition. An accident victim loses his memories but gains a much nicer personality, presenting Shutt and McNeil with a dilemmna.

Aaron's practical joker college roommate arrives for a visit and announces that he wants Aaron to marry his widow, Aaron's former girlfriend, when the malignant and inoperable tumor in his brain finally takes his life in a few weeks; Keith and Danny continue to clash; Aaron runs into an old friend as he stumbles home after a night of drinking with his college roommate; Gina has a miscarriage, but a grieving Keith wonders if it wasn't deliberate; Karen suspects that Jack's gambling again, an accusation which he denies; Maricela puts the moves on Aaron; Karen is wary when Jack finally comes to her for help.

Kate flies to Washington with Tommy to speak to Congress about health care. Back in Chicago, her friend Marina makes a decision about adoption. McNeil's patint Harriett Owens is hospitalized again.

Kate lobbies for another heart for a prominent author whose first transplanted organ is failing and who also has a continuing heroin addiction. McNeil's gambling problem grows worse. Danny Nyland becomes a patient when he runs into a telephone pole with his car.

Kate returns to duty and finds that her reinstatement comes with a cut in title, salary, staff, and office; Jack replaces the hip of an older man who has opinions on everything, including how Jack should live his life; Aaron has mixed emotions when Grace comes up with a much-needed improvement for a surgical shunt he's been developing; Kate is humbled when a young couple whose daughter needs a heart transplant chooses another doctor after they discover her change in status; Tommy thinks it would be a good idea for the hospital to advertise, and hires a publicist who manages to get under everyone's skin as she creates a commercial that ends up looking strangely familiar.

Austin and Underhill both have to face the consequences when they tell the truth. McNeil contemplates surgery to prolong a jockey's career. Kronk lies to a teenage smoker with a cough.

Kronk puts himself and Grad into a difficult position when he treats an old hockey pal who turns up after just being released from jail with a bullet in him. Wilkes and his wife face some basic decisions about their lives when they must decide what sort of neighborhood to move to.

An old friend of Austin's asks for help in getting pregnant. A cancer patient needs marijuana for her well being. Shutt's friend returns from Italy without his wife.

Kate finds herself in a no-win situation when a child is injured during one of Sara's softball games. Phillip's Colonel from Vietnam is admitted with rheumatoid arthritis but refuses treatment. Nyland is suspended again. Shutt get a TV gig.

McNeil doesn't cope well with the demands for attention from Karen, his ""roomate"" and a thereapy patient claiming that McNeil's his father. Billy lears that Aaron kissed Diane, and handles it very badly. A depressed Nyland gets one more unwelcome surprise. Phillip receives an offer from Emma.

Geiger second-guess Austin's choice of a non-surgical treatment for a heart patient. Grad gets a surprise visit from an old beau. Hancock asks for Camille's help in coordinating a new home health care program.

A violent storm on Halloween night knocks out the hospital's power immediately following the arrival of several auto-accident victims. Nyland and Atkisson briefly renew their romance. A new doctor shows up for duty, and is immediately put to work delivering a baby.

Watters blames Birch for their poor showing after they're ambushed by a state senator during televised health-care hearings. Sutton operates on a pregnant woman's unborn child. Laurie remarries and asks Geiger to attend the ceremony, which will be presided over by ""Evita Peron.""

Kate is stricken when she realizes that her negligence due to exhaustion caused the death of a young woman during surgery, and considers assuaging her guilt by informing the woman's parents of her error; Billy and Danny decide to help a teenager running a unlicensed clinic for indigent patients; Judge Aldrich retires from the bench and comes to work at the hospital as Alan's replacement; Camille's drug seeking behaviors continue; Diane has second thoughts about her research project when she realizes that she's become attached to the orangutan that she's successfully infected with AIDS.

Aaron and Jack join forces in operating on a man who sustained multiple fractures in a parachute jumping accident; Diane rejoins the staff as a teaching attending in internal medicine, and quickly draws a demanding and manipulative patient who's making the staff miserable; Kate's grief over her father's death is compounded when she's carjacked on her way home from his funeral and his ashes are not recovered with the car; Diane unsuccessfully seeks some moral support from Dennis and Philip; after Tommy tells her some hard truths about creating her own misery, Kate decides to take responsibility for the choices she's made, and starts by telling Peggy Harrod the truth about her daughter's death; Jack takes one on the chin when he gives the parachutist's would-be bride some bad news; Kate returns home to find the carjacker has returned her father's ashes while burglarizing her home; Philip has it out with Aaron and reaffirms his intention to keep Tommy from closing the hospital.