Senior Resident Dr. John Carter (series star NOAH WYLE) completes a three-month drug rehabilitation program in Atlanta. At Chicago's County General Hospital, Chief of Staff Dr. Robert Romano (series star PAUL McCRANE) stubbornly prolongs a janitors' strike, causing dangerous conditions. Romano nastily interviews Dr. Peter Benton (series star ERIQ LA SALLE) and eventually makes him attending physician. Attending Physician Dr. Mark Greene (series star ANTHONY EDWARDS) returns from vacation with his girlfriend, Associate Chief of Surgery Dr. Elizabeth Corday (series star ALEX KINGSTON). After Chief of Emergency Medicine Dr. Kerry Weaver (series star LAURA INNES) tells Intensive Care Unit nurse Abby Lockhart (series star MAURA TIERNEY) that her education is delayed due to nonpayment, Abby berates her ex-husband for neglecting her tuition fee. Third-year resident Dr. Jing-Mei Chen (series star MING-NA) keeps her pregnancy secret. And second-year resident Dr. Cleo Finch (series star MICHAEL MICHELE) notices the lack of blacks among new medical students.

When a man rushes his wife to the emergency room too late to save her, physician Dr. Luka Kovac (series star GORAN VISNJIC) pretends to operate on the dead woman to ease the old man's guilt. Meanwhile, Greene performs surgery on a high school football player, Mike Palmieri (WENTWORTH MILLER), who was brutally tackled. Greene assures Palmieri's mother that the injuries are routine, until he discovers bleeding around Palmieri's heart. As Greene frantically works, dozens of injured rival football players and cheerleaders fill the emergency room--the game became a riot after Palmieri left. When Palmieri's teammates find out that he might die, they start a gigantic brawl, destroying the waiting area and injuring second-year resident Dr. Dave Malucci (series star ERIK PALLADINO). Despite the melee, Greene saves Palmieri's life. Carter arrives from the airport to retrieve his car and wisely decides not to go inside the hospital.