The residents worry over who will be asked to return next year; the Craigs worry over the ""Doctor of the Year"" award dinner; Fiscus grows obsessed with opening a locked door; Martin drops by with a new look; Dr. Auschlander fears death as Halley's Comet blazes overhead; and a mugging victim named Boston Massachusetts waits for treatment in the E.R.
Rosenthal's first husband and youngest son both return to her life; Chandler comes under fire for his activism against apartheid; Dr. Turner finds it hard to let go of the Ettings' baby; The Valeres' wish is finally granted, and everyone wants to date Novino.
Dr. Turner returns to St. Eligius in time to deliver the baby of an old patient; Chandler has very bad luck as he searches for her all day; and Dr. Auschlander is trapped in a crack house that has been bequeathed to the hospital.
Novino treats a famous cartoonist whose hands are being crippled by arthritis; Ehrlich ends his OB-GYN stint by examining Mrs. Craig; and Morrison's outreach work at a state prison ends tragically with a riot.
Chandler does his outreach work at a crisis hotline, where he draws a suicide on his first night; Ehrlich earns Dr. Craig's approval after he performs well during an emergency; and Carol Novino renews her friendship with Dr. Westphall and his family. Ellen Craig kicks Mark out of their home.
A former nurse returns to St. Eligius as a medical student; a jock desperate to prolong his mediocre career learns the steroids he's using are killing him; Morrison has difficulty telling a young boy he will lose an arm to cancer; Fiscus and Axelrod see southern California through different eyes during a medical conference; and Ellen Craig feels the pressure of caring for Barbara and her continuing grief over Steven's death.
St. Eligius' 50th anniversary spurs memories, including: the growing up of Donald Westphall, the arrival of young Daniel Auschlander and his first meeting with Katharine, a drunken and embittered Father McCabe's departure, and the residency of Mark Craig under Dr. David Domedion. The O'Casey family's long history with St. Eligius leads Morrison to a diagnosis. Pete is returned.
St. Eligius' 50th anniversary spurs memories, including: it's opening in 1935 under the leadership of Father Joseph McCabe, the arrival of recently emigrated Helen Rosenthal and Mark's return as chief of surgery, Mark's bypass on Patrick O'Casey and the death of Maureen Westphall. Morrison struggles to diagnose a difficult patient and cope with the loss of Pete to a kidnapper.
The Endicotts try to adjust to losing a family member but gain good news about another; Dr. Caldwell's diagnosis of AIDS causes concern for his friends and a cooling in Fiscus and Clancy's relationship; and Ehrlich's outreach assignment involves the normal sized son of dwarf parents.
The Endicotts learn that their family's medical problems are hereditary; Dr. Caldwell prepares for surgery to eliminate his facial scar, but learns that he carries a more permanent reminder of his carelessness; and Fiscus and Morrison play romantic games with Clancy and Mona.
Dr. Auschlander resents the wealth and influence of the matriarch of an old Massachusetts family admitted for tests; Morrison feels his impending knee surgery; Axelrod tries to get to know an animal researcher; the Valeres make a decision about surrogacy; Fiscus meets the woman who will unknowingly bear his child, and regrets his impulsive proposal to Mona as he realizes their diverging ideas of married life.
Fiscus reluctantly does his outreach work with a couple of feisty old people; Chandler is near yet another explosion; John Doe #6 is claimed by a couple who seem as wacky as he is; Rosenthal and Papandrao settle out of court; and the Valeres consider adoption and divorce as they come to the medical end of the line for their fertility problem.
An anti-abortionist targets the hospital for bomb threats and Chandler is involved in trouble at the Boston Women's Clinic; Rosenthal decides what she must do with her youngest son; Luther loses his favorite racing pigeon, whom he left in Axelrod's care; and Morrison tries to explain abortion to Pru. Dr. Westphall's housekeeper has her INS hearing. Mona and Wayne quarrel.
Axelrod tries to keep Santa Claus alive after he collapses at a children's party; Ehrlich tries to brighten the holiday for his only obstetrical patient; Lizzie's boy friend finds the Westphalls' Christmas depressing; and Dr. Craig overindulges at his Christmas party.
Life goes on as the generator fails during a city-wide blackout; Caldwell takes leave to visit a dying friend; Westphall shares a stuck elevator with an Irishman; Dr. Craig and Wade perform emergency surgery; Pru returns to the hospital, as do the Valeres; Rosenthal is subpoenaed; Fiscus finds the emergency romantic; and a man who believes he's a vampire appeals to Morrison and Axelrod for help.
Dr. Westphall learns that his new housekeeper is an illegal immigrant who was tortured by the death squads in El Salvador; a nervous Ehrlich tries to get out of his OB-GYN rotation, and later delivers a baby; crackdowns on the homeless unearth a sarcophagus and an old acquaintance of Wayne's; Dr. Caldwell is chastised for letting his joking comments to Papandrao go too far in front of a patient.
Mr. Galecki brings Barbara back to the Craigs; Dr. Turner leaves unexpectedly for her sleepy hometown down South; Rosenthal slaps Lucy; Jack takes his remedial exam and Colonel Cochrane reconciles himself with God.
Dr. Craig arranges to take Yvonne home to her parents; Ehrlich advises a plastic surgery patient behind Dr.Caldwell's back; Capt. Neal arrives to evaluate the astronaut's condition and to supervise his transfer to Walter Reed, despite Westphall and Morrison's objections; Chandler and Dr. Turner plan a vacation together; and John Doe #6 decides he's Mary Richards and plans a party to celebrate.
An astronaut lecturing in Boston collapses and is brought to St. Eligius; Papandrao and Rosenthal continue to clash; Axelrod loses both Marcy and his battle with the bulge; Dr. Craig impatiently assumes the responsibility of explaining the facts of life to a mentally disabled young woman; and Dr. Westphall hears some hard to take truths from his sister-in-law,
Dr. Westphall drives himself too hard and is hospitalized; Yvonne's parents arrive to see their daughter and to claim their grandchild; Terri has in-vitro fertilization; Fiscus makes a donation; and Dr. Caldwell picks up the wrong woman. Helen goes back to work on the floor. Dr. Westphall's insightful moving man checks into the hospital.
Dr. Westphall tries to deal with his critical sister-in-law and a reluctant hospital board; Luther becomes Axelrod's personal trainer; Roxanne asks Chandler to her recital; Rosenthal worries over the threats of an assaulted teenager; Dr. Caldwell's questionable behavior continues at the hospital; and Dr. Craig proves to be of little help to his grieving wife.
The Craigs face a tremendous loss as their first grandchild is born; a newly inspired Dr. Westphall returns to work full of ideas; and Fiscus invites himself up to Dr. Caldwell's Cape Cod retreat, where he sees a different side to the surgeon. Elliot and Marcy discover a common interest in food.
The Craigs meet their pregnant daughter-in-law, Yvonne; the Valeres continue to explore ways of having a child; Westphall's new policies irritate the residents and Auschlander; and Luther rides with a paramedic team preoccupied with their personal grievances.
The hospital review board acquires a new member from the psychiatric floor; Chandler experiences long-suppressed resentments when he treats a Vietnamese patient; and Dr. Turner counsels an upwardly mobile couple who can't conceive a child.
