Amy presides over a custody case between a young girl's stepfather and her biological father, whose severe case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder may interfere with his parenting ability; after an unsuccessful experiment with day trading puts holes in her financial situation, Maxine has difficulty fixing the holes in her roof; the court reporter from hell, who is also Donna's nemesis, is assigned to Amy's courtroom; Maxine uncovers systematic fraud at D.C.F. that leads directly to Susie's desk; Amy realizes that she needs to assume more of the financial burden at home after she and Peter quarrel over their mother's monetary predicament; Vincent and Lisa work through their relationship fears; Amy orders D.C.F. to cut through the bureaucracy and the paperwork so that Croatian refugees can find a home and be reunited with their son.

Heeding the request of counsel to deliver one of her ""rants"" at a sentencing hearing, Amy lectures a young drug dealer whose mother has made tremendous sacrifices to provide him with a better life; much to Peter's dismay, Maxine accepts a date from an attractive man she meets at the diner; Amy gets ""backwater detail"" subbing for another judge, and travels with Bruce to a small town to hear a case centered on the misdiagnosis and overmedication of its teenage boys; as her abductor's case comes to trial, Lisa and Vincent argue when her fears for the possibility of acquittal, and thus her safety, increase; pending the outcome of an investigation, Susie is back at work after a one week paid suspension and, over Maxine's objections, sets in motion a chain of events which eventually leads to the death of a young mother; Amy and Bruce have divergent reactions when confronted with intolerance during their trip; Maxine unsuccessfully tries to resign, and ends up being blackmailed into acceptin

As Peter and Gillian prepare for Ned's christening, Evie returns to claim her son; Amy and Tom decide to make their relationship public; Carole has trouble dealing with Vincent's relationship with Donna; Maxine moves forward with her plans for Sanctuary House; Amy looks for signs of remorse from a teenage boy accused of killing his sister.