Philippa Calcutt, a woman with an advanced intestinal cancer, is visited by both a friend from church and her sister, who fears the friend is having an undue influence on her. On the children's ward is an 8-month-pregnant 15-year-old girl with an overbearing mother and a young boyfriend, Dean Flynn - Steve Waring's attempts at advice don't help smooth things for any of them. Samantha Kennedy holds a joint 30th birthday and flat-warming party, even summoning up the courage to invite Alex Adams, who declines. He in fact meets up with Jess Griffin, not knowing who she is, and awkwardly ends up at the party anyway. There, Steve gets into a brawl with an old school-friend Craig Campbell, resulting in a serious injury, and the calling of an ambulance and the police, who search Ric Griffin and find his considerable stash.

Steve finds himself under pressure on the new AAU ward when a school trip ends in disaster. Jess gets more than she bargained for during her first day as a student nurse. Diane gets cold feet when Danny asks if he can move in.

Kath meets up with Fr Michael and makes it clear that she regrets their moment of passion. Devastated, he attempts to take his own life. Meanwhile, Alex pleads with Jess to think about the future and their bab

Janice Taylor holds a dinner party to welcome Anton Meyer back to work, his first case badk is a heart transplant patient who has been poorly treated by the system. Janice discovers she is now pregnant to to the latest round of IVF. Alex Adams is jealous when he finds Samantha Kenedy and Ric Griffin together. Word begins to spread about Keri McGrath and Liam Evans.

Jess gives Alex several opportunities to talk her out of the termination, but he accepts none of them, and Jess goes ahead with the procedure. Meanwhile, her father Ric is busy trying to organise his birthday drinks, oblivious to his daughter's predicament.

Tempers flare at a staff football match, and Ed Keating's past returns to haunt him. Kath accuses Danny of neglecting his studies to spend time with Diane. Terry Fox struggles to break some devastating news to Lisa.

Anton Meyer is seriously injured in a road-rage incident and is brought to Holby for an emergency operation. Mike Barratt's replacement Ric Griffin arrives. Alex Adams plays detective when he realises that the wife of an apparent road injury victim admitted at the same time is driving around in Meyer's car.

Janice Taylor endangers her unborn baby, and Tash Bandara's attempts to save a patients life are met with hostility.

Tragedy strikes when Steve Waring leaves his son to look after his sick mother. On Darwin Ward, a blind man regains his sight after a relatively minor procedure on his lungs, and a cantankerous young homeless man causes problems for Simon Shaughnessy on his first day at work at Holby City, assisting Stan Ashleigh. A heart patient whose son appears not to want the burden of caring for him prompts a spat between Alex Adams & Samantha Kennedy, leading them to explore their personal experiences of caring for their fathers.

Just before Christmas on Keller Ward, David Thomas, a young rugby player is brought in having sustained a bad leg fracture. Sandy Harper takes a fancy to him and stays late to decorate his bedside with extra tinsel. He dies during the night from complications from an unsuspected head injury. Chrissie Williams has to tell Alistair Taylor repeatedly that their affair is over. Janice Taylor finds out that she is pregnant again, but finds Chrissie's badge under the marital bed and sees husband Alistair behaving suspiciously with Chrissie. She confronts him, but he denies it sufficiently convincingly.

Samantha Kennedy vows that she's off men for ever. A young woman with learning difficulties, Chloe Edwards, is in the maternity ward for complications with her pregnancy, and her mother is concerned. Stan Ashleigh's wife collapses in the hospital car park while delivering him to work, and she is admitted to one of the wards for tests and treatment.

A case of the Norwak virus is discovered on Darwin Ward, but Ric Griffin decides to try to stay open and contain the outbreak. At the flat, Liam is disturbed by noise from next door, and going round to complain, finds an unconscious, bleeding woman in the open doorway. A man with a bat ties Liam up, but he is released when the woman comes round. In tackling the man to prevent him harming his son, Liam is badly injured in a fall.

Registrar Diane Lloyd, an old girlfriend of Ric Griffin's, joins the team on Keller Ward, where preparations are nearing completion for Sam Kennedy's wedding to Ric. Owen Davis is getting more involved with Chrissy Williams. Alex Adams takes up the invitation to join the poorly-attended stag night, and Diane suggests moving to the casino next door, where Ric wagers the £20 000 cheque that Sam is giving him to clear his debts. A young man, Gary Sullivan, is admitted to Keller with abdominal pains, which Ric finds is advanced cancer, and is put in a moral dilemma when the patient asks him to disguise the fact that it predates his taking out a large life insurance policy in favor of his fiancée. Maternity deals with a young mother-to-be who is diagnosed with herpes, and the consequences for her relationship with the father.

As a result of Sam's threat, Meyer's abilities as a surgeon are under investigation by a new heart consultant Tom Campbell-Gore. Adams also begins to question Meyer's judgement.

As Danny and Father Michael try to set up a new flat for Kath, Steve trys to start a relationship with Lisa but changes his mind.

Sam Kennedy & Ric Griffin's wedding day dawns, and the final preparations are in hand. But Alex Adams is in a quandary about whether to tell Sam what Ric has done with her money, and what his true feelings for her are. Ric can't summon up the courage to tell Sam, and is beginning to have doubts about the wedding. Sam realises that she wants Alex to rescue her from her situation, but nevertheless goes to the Register Office. Gary Sullivan is found to be in a much worse condition that thought, and he has to find the courage to tell his fiancée the truth, while she has something to tell him; they decide to get married on the ward.

Janice Taylor wants to proceed with another round of IVF treatment immediately, but Alistair is not so sure. Chrissie Williams offers him a shoulder to cry on over a drink, but it leads to somewhat more. Samantha Kennedy gets badly involved with an anorexic heart patient and her over-protective mother. Janice has to tell Danny Shaughnessy not to take too much pity on a struggling single mother, but he is also becoming increasingly involved with Marija's attempt to evade the authorities.

Chrissie Williams wakes up with Alistair Taylor in the Taylors' bed. Steve Waring's son is increasingly upset over his mother's death, and skips school to binge drink at home, causing Steve to have a stressful time sorting him out. On the wards, a young man is admitted with acute pancreatitis, but Tash Bandara's sympathy is more limited than the man's father's. A long-distance lorry-driver patient with a heart problem is visited by two women who each think that she is his wife. Marija has to have it pointed out to her than Danny actually fancies her.

Jamie, the child that Alex Adams knocked down, is starting to recover in Otter Ward when he suddenly worsens, needing an urgent operation, but dies in theatre. Blood tests confirm the positive breathalyser, and Alex is charged with drink-driving. Samantha Kennedy becomes increasingly remorseful that she was the one at fault, but still can't bring herself to confess to him or anyone. Dr Gupta's wife gives birth by Caesarian to their fourth child, and first son, in the Holby maternity unit, but almost at the cost of her life. Alistair Taylor prepares to leave his wife for Chrissie Williams, though she continues to consistently reject him. He and Owen Davis end up brawling in the car park, after Owen intervenes to stop Alistair hassling Chrissie. Janice sees them, and finally realises what has been happening.

Ric's Daughter shows up at Holby to ask for money and makes a date with Liam in the meantime, however he promptly cancells on her when he finds out whose daughter she is.

Marija has to make the desicion of going away with her first husband, Goran, or staying with Danny. Sam Kennedy confesses to Chrissie that she got Alex drunk and after seeing his mother's black eye, Danny beats up his father in the car park.

Ben invites his parents to dinner with the intention of telling them that he is a homosexual.

Ric Griffin's day goes from bad to worse when Samantha accidentally bumps into his car in the car park and his daughter shows up again asking for more money. He says no and makes her get a job as Owen's new PA.

The morning after the party, Ric Griffin is released from police custody, and, after an unofficial reprimand from Anton Meyer, reconsiders his application for a lucrative administrative job at the nearby Hadlington private hospital. Janice Taylor is suffering from dizziness, which Owen Davis deduces is anemia, but also the stress of the impending divorce. Teenager Oliver Gordon is in for a check after a fall at home, when Steve Waring finds a lump in his neck. It is an anxious time for his mother, until Ric can do a biopsy. American cardiac surgeon Alan Fletcher returns, with his wife, who is in the final stages of rejecting her transplanted heart. They beg Anton Meyer to use an experimental artificial heart pump to save her life.

A decision must be made whether a young woman or a boy with down syndrome will recieve a heart that has become available.