Matlock is the unlikely witness when a boat blows up killing Judge Michael Sterns. Had it not been for Ben's sea-sickness, he would have been on the boat. Convinced that someone was out to get him and not Judge Sterns, Matlock, Cliff and Jerri take a look through some of Ben's old cases to find out who did it, and Matlock takes on the case of the man accused of the crime, a former lawyer who had been disbarred for jury tampering exactly five years earlier.

When Matlock defends an attorney accused of murdering her boss, he also uncovers a history of sexual harrassment involving the law firm.

Matlock and Jerri head out to the beach with Billy and Cliff as Cliff prepares for an upcoming triathlon. Once there, Matlock is surprised to run into retired F.B.I. agent Ed Wingate, who is investigating a case of his own. While Matlock keeps himself busy occasionally running into Ed, Cliff throws himself into the competition, and Billy throws himself at Anita Montrose, the real estate agent who rented them the beach house they're staying at. When one of the people Ed is investigating is found dead, Matlock agrees to defend his old friend.

When Cliff's friend Fred is accused of murdering Melissa, a woman he met through the dating service Perfect Harmony, he and Matlock take the case, and Jerri goes undercover to investigate. She sets herself up as one of the datees, much to the frustration of a loca police officer. Unfortunately, she has better luck than she hoped, as one of her dates is a killer in disguise.

While Cliff, Jerri and Billy plan to throw Ben a surprise party for his birthday, Ben goes to the city to pick up barbecue. While there, his car breaks down, he's mugged, the phone eats his last quarter ... and by the time he is rescued by activist Stan Johnson and returned to his car, it's half-stripped and they've stolen his barbecue. Matlock is very impressed by the young man, and when he's accused of trying to kill the landlord of the apartment complex he lives in, Matlock steps in to defend him and to stand up to the landlord, who is a very respected man in the legal community.

A radio personality is accused of killing his partner, but Ben suspects the victim's girlfriend. The only problem is that she seems to have an airtight alibi...Ray's neighbor, Mr. Yates, watched her 'find' the body.

Matlock defends a journalist who killed an underworld figure in self-defense after meeting with him for an interview.

Katie Clark is a hot new prosecutor in town, fresh from St. Louis, but originally from Atlanta. Her first case involves prosecuting a building contractor who has been accused of murdering one of his employees, who just happens to be Clark's former lover. Despite his reservations about Clark prosecuting a former lover, Matlock agrees to let her continue on the case, impressed by her desire to not allow her personal past with Gibson to affect her judgment.

A basketball coach is accused of murdering an influential booster.

Part two of the episode The Scandal.

An eccentric millionare tells Matlock that he couldn't solve the perfect murder if it were handed to him on a silver platter. To prove his point, he kills Matlock's friend, detective Bob Brooks, and successfully frames another man for the crime.

Matlock takes the case of an ex-convict when he's arrested for robbing a bank he had robbed years before. Matt Ahern saw the whole thing, but the young boy isn't willing to tell the truth unless Matlock promises to get his father out of jail.

Michael defends U.S. senatorial candidate Carol Davis when she's accused of murdering tabloid editor Ross Buckley. Jerri goes undercover at the paper to prove that someone there may have had an even bigger motive than Carol.

Jeri's sister Rachel comes to Atlanta looking for help when she is fired from her job as a nurse after a doctor (Gray) blames her for a mistake that cost a surgery patient her kidney. When the doctor is murdered, Rachel is blamed with the crime, and Matlock agrees to defend her.

Julie returns to Atlanta from L.A. for a legal conference, and when a former snitch calls her to the jailhouse and admits that she lied, Julie convinces Ben to defend the man, an admitted thief who had one cardinal rule...never break into a house when anyone is home. After Jerri talks with Susan Kellogg, a woman who lost her daughter to a hit-and-run driver around the same time that Brenda Chaney was murdered, Matlock realises there may be more to this case than meets the eye.

While at a triathlon, Matlock runs into a former client, a retired FBI agent trying to solve an old case.

Cliff's old college chum Craig Browning is defending Cameron Ivers on charges of vehicular manslaughter, and is being blackmailed about an affair he had to plead his client a certain way. Craig hires Cliff to meet the blackmailer to keep his hands clean, but when Scott Aston turns out dead, suspicion turns to Cliff, who needs to find the real killers. With Jerri's help, they manage to find out that Aston worked for John Robinson and Mark Reeves, two men who frequently like to get one-up on Ivers in the business world, and that the woman Craig has been having an affair with was their secretary. Ben prepares for his fortieth reunion by dieting to fit into his old choral suit.

When Cameron Ivers is killed in a hit and run accident, Matlock decides to take a closer look at Robinson and Reeves, hoping that if he can tie them to Cameron Ivers' death he'll be able to tie them to Scott Aston's death and clear Cliff. After gathering together a number of people Scott Aston had been investigating who were supposed to be dead, Matlock heads to Florida where he finds Chuck Ratner, and Cliff and Jerri learn that the people are all connected because they all turned down the same kind of life insurance. Matlock continues his quest to lose weight by his reunion, but fires his personal trainer.