Ellyn tries to deal with the shock of her parents' divorce and her growing estrangement from Woodman.

Ellyn is shocked to receive a call from her father asking her to lunch. With Hope and Nancy, she wonders why he's doing this for the first time in nineteen years. At work she has a disagreement with Woodman during a meeting. Ellyn meets her father, James. His conversation with her makes it obvious that he doesn't really pay attention to what she says. As they are leaving, he drops a bombshell: he and her mother Marjorie are getting divorced, and Ellyn should talk to her.

At home, Woodman wonders what's upsetting Ellyn. She just wants to be alone and doesn't know how to act. Later when Ellyn meets with her mother, she wanders through her old house reminiscing about her emotionally distant father. Talking with Michael, Ellyn muses that she should have fallen for a guy like him.

CAPSULE: Ellyn's work and personal life take a great toll on her, both physically and emotionally.

Ellyn has been suffering from an unknown stomach ailment but she tells Woodman and Hope that's she's OK. But at a dinner at the Steadmans she shows a sharp burst of temper, then makes a drunken crack about Michael's business failing. Hope and Woodman both want to know what's been making Ellyn so crazy, but she doesn't give them any good answers. Ellyn goes to her doctor about the stomach trouble. He gives her a referral to a gastro-intestinal specialist; she throws it away.

Meanwhile at City Hall, assistant district attorney Dave Callaman, an acquaintance of both Ellyn and Woodman, has been around asking about an investigation he's working on. But he has a personal interest in Ellyn and he asks her out. Ellyn goes bowling with him and tells Woodman she was talking to him about the investigation. Later at work he spies Ellyn and Dave having what appears to be an intimate moment. When Ellyn