Austin has to give a physical exam to a former astronaut scheduled to fly the space shuttle. An old friend of McNeil's arrives at Hope dying of pancreatic cancer. Shutt treats a young rabbinical student who attempted suicide.

Watters sends an uninsured child to County for risky heart surgery; a national magazine profiles Catera; nobody knows a mysterious observer (Eric Stoltz).

Grad suspects parents of starving a baby; Shutt and Catera clash over a diagnosis; Austin announces her NASA plans and is demoted; Dr. Yeats uses intuition.

Austin suspects a patient is misusing Viagra; despite a patient's religious objections, McNeil gives a blood transfusion; a musician fears medication will destroy his creativity.

Dr. Hancock gets caught up in a political movement after accusing a white police officer of shooting a homeless African-American; Dr. Austin learns to fly a plane.

A TV star is rushed into the emergency room after a fall and dies suddenly, causing a news crew to hound Drs. McNeil and Yeats for the real cause of death.

Dr. Wilkes faces certain fears when his son shoots a friend while playing with his father's handgun; one of Dr. Shutt's patients is attracted to him.

A girl on Dr. McNeil's basketball team almost dies from brain injuries incurred during a game; Dr. Yeats feels his patient should not have heart surgery.

Shutt has difficulty coping with a patient's death; Kronk is tempted by the advances of his daughter's baby sitter.

Yeats and Austin are snowed in at a remote cabin during a yoga retreat, while Sara becomes dangerously ill.

Grad is accidentally exposed when she cuts herself while delivering the baby of an HIV-positive woman.

McNeil performs a hand transplant; Austin becomes a crewmember on the space shuttle; Watters' ailing childhood friend asks him to donate a kidney.

Jack gets bad news and has to return home. Billy's friend needs a new heart. Dr. Cacaci is peddling a line of home and beauty products. Jack and Lisa's relationship hits a crossroad.

Catera tries to get a terminally ill patient into a cancer test study. One of Shutt's patients confesses to murder. Cronk struggles with the decision to put his seriously ill dog to sleep.

An overweight patient makes Keith re-evaluate his own life choices. A visit from a former supervisor has Kate reliving their past relationship and re-evaluating her own relationships with others. Diane gets test results.

Parents facing a horrible situation want to gamble on future technology. Aaron's psych experiment goes horribly wrong. An Alzheimer's patient confuses Jack with someone from her past.

A new mother is shocked when she gives birth to white and black babies; Dr. Austin makes a rude remark and is threatened with a lawsuit.

A man from Kate's past makes a brief but dramatic reappearance. A pregnant cancer patient faces an impossible choice. Dr. Cacaci makes a retaliatory allegation against Philip.

Mass casualties arrive from a rave. Among them are drug overdoses, a young woman who was raped, and a young man who changes the course of Kate's life. Philip continues to refuse to participate in his own defense.