Dinah is pregnant. Her gynecologist suggests an abortion for her. Her unborn child shows damages. However, Buck James recommends a new operation for his daughter. In spite of the risk, Dinah wants to venture the intervention

Buck rushes to help a woman in difficult labor; and Dinah's former boyfriend and father of her unborn child tries to win her back.

Dinah and Clint are both depressed during the holidays. A little girl brings Christmas joy to the hospital.

Nasty choices teem when a rodeo accident nearly kills Clint's best friend and Rebecca gets a job offer from a New York hospital.

Buck coaxes a patient to undergo a risky operation, but the man is afraid to leave his daughter, who has Down syndrome.

Rebecca is censured for performing an elective hysterectomy; and Torio confronts racial discrimination.

Private affairs may be affecting performance when Rebecca and an expert trauma surgeon's divergence leads to a hospital standoff.

Doctor Buck and Les Grant argue over the center's budget, but before an agreement is reached, Grant is shot and his son is arrested for attempted murder.

Death threatens near when Jenny's mom suffers a stroke, and an argument between ranchers and a banker increases into a hit-and-run.

Buck runs to attend a man and his son, the victims of a shootout. Later the mother forbids a blood transfusion for her wounded son because of their religious beliefs. Clint gets angry at his mother after he sees her with an unknown man.

Buck James' unmarried daughter comes back, and he has to face hospital politics.