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Abby greets Carter with hostility upon his return from the Congo; a British medical student causes a stir; Pratt tries to help an HIV-infected patient obtain insurance; a woman and her children are injured in a car crash.

Going into harm's way, Dr. Carter returns to the Congo to search for a colleague's corpse despite the chaos and danger of a civil war.

Abby receives a special "Dear John" letter from Dr. Carter while her fellow nurses threaten a walkout; Dr. Romano's mood worsens when he is fitted with a hook for his missing arm.

During the graveyard shift, Dr. Pratt treats a man who has lost the power of speech and a boy who has swallowed a quarter; a screaming man with a broken leg is kept waiting for several hours; Corday warms up to Dr. Dorset (Bruno Campos).

Failing eyesight makes an architect (Bob Newhart) despondent; doctors suspect a woman of abusing her child; Corday learns something shocking about the charismatic Dr. Dorset (Bruno Campos); the emergency room overwhelms a new medical student.

Dr. Kovac opposes Pratt's efforts to save the life of a premature baby; a pharmaceutical representative makes the rounds offering up samples; a psychiatrist prescribes drugs to an abused child; a man protests his exorbitant bill.

Dr. Lewis plans a home-cooked dinner for Hollander (Bob Newhart); Neela and Pratt treat a young man who was attacked in jail; Gallant gambles with the risky transfer of a patient; Sam brings her precocious son to the hospital for a day.

A rain of fire threatens the hospital staff on Thanksgiving Day; Abby treats an HIV-positive woman who might be pregnant; Dr. Romano plans to file a complaint against Pratt.

Cultures collide when Neela treats two Amish teenagers involved in a car accident; Sam clashes with Dr. Kovac when he pays too much attention to her trouble-prone teenage son.

Dr. Carter celebrates Christmas at a Congolese medical clinic, wrangling over meager supplies and confronting anti-Americanism, but he falls for an AIDS worker named Makemba (Thandie Newton).

Dr. Carter returns from Africa accompanied by a new love, Makemba (Thandie Newton); Drs. Pratt and Gallant argue over a personal matter.

Abby and Neela are assigned to a monthlong rotation in the neonatal intensive-care unit, and they experience emotional highs and lows while caring for the struggling infants.

Dr. Carter's inquisitive girlfriend (Thandie Newton) makes an impact as she observes hospital operations; Gallant is almost shot during a domestic dispute; Weaver dedicates a center to the memory of Dr. Romano.

Sam treats an abused, pregnant teenager; Carter shows Makemba (Thandie Newton) the wonders of wintertime; emergency-room mayhem shocks a risk-assessment expert (Richard Kline); Dr. Pratt and Abby restrain a man who has tuberculosis.

Claustrophobic Neela accompanies a poisoned newborn into a hyperbaric chamber; Lewis and Abby treat a man covered in blood; a boy tests positive for leukemia; Chen returns from China with her sick father in tow.

A psychotic patient threatens the hospital with a stolen Army tank; Dr. Kovac's French friend visits; an E.R. staffer has a heart attack; 13-year-olds have chlamydia.

Dr. Carter's protege takes his advice too far and treats a brain-injury patient; Dr. Gallant falsifies a medical report; Chuck defends Dr. Lewis from a pervert; Dr. Chen searches for a caretaker for her combative father.

Dr. Weaver tries to save Sandy after she is severely injured fighting a fire; Dr. Lewis is confined to bed rest; tensions between Dr. Gallant and Neela mount; Dr. Corday gets a pleasant surprise.

A woman accuses Dr. Pratt of sexual harassment; Neela studies strokes in a laboratory with brainy but bizarre graduate students; Sam tries to resist the appeal of her son's father (Cole Hauser); Weaver vows to fight for her baby boy.

A panicked Dr. Weaver is ordered to give up her son to the Lopez family; Dr. Carter greets Kem (Thandie Newton) upon her return to the hospital.

Dr. Carter suspects trouble and rushes his pregnant girlfriend to the E.R.; Dr. Greene's daughter seeks a haven and morning after pills.

Dr. Kovac stops to help a stranded motorist and her son, but when a car hits them, he must use all his skills to keep them alive until specialists arrive.