A stray dog wanders into the station; the station personnel name him Boot, but Boot promptly takes a dislike to John. Later, Roy and John rescue a boy trapped in a hole; examination of the boy leads the doctors to determine the boy has a history of child abuse. A girl runs to Dixie telling her she is giving an airplane to a boy, then Dixie also asks the girl if her best friend hurt himself falling down the hole. The girl says he did not, to which the boy says she is lying. Dr. Brackett's efforts to save the boy from his abusive life fail in the legal system–and lead to tragic results. Other rescues include a boy whose head was stuck in a basement window, Dr. Early freeing a boy's hand from his father's sport steering wheel, and the firefighters rescuing an injured hiker from a rapidly spreading brush fire with help from Boot, who "adopts" a different fire station.

A woman returning from Asia with a monkey also brought back a highly contagious virus that kills a firefighter and sickens Dr. Brackett, later Johnny too is stricken during a rescue of a man having a heart attack on a scaffold, of whom the rescue fails. But the woman is not as sickened and her traveling partner appears to have immunity to the disease. As two professionals are fighting, Dixie talks to the wife, whose husband is (of course) dying. While Dixie, Dr. Early, and Roy treat Johnny, Nurse Walters and Dr. Early treat Dr. Brackett; his conjecture about the woman's immunity (which he makes before he himself is sickened) proves to be crucial to finding the treatment for the virus. The firefighters also rescue a boy with Ménière's syndrome, from a treehouse.