Mary Caitlin's conscience is weighed upon after a professor, Mr. Gianelli, confesses a secret to her shortly before he dies of a heart attack - a secret he wants her to tell his wife. One of the students, Eddie, is hounded by another classmate over his perceived homosexuality. Donna, an unwed mother who brings her child to school, is going through a crisis.

Harry faces the impending consequences of Johnny's untruthful complaint against him, which the other students believe. A former friend of Matthew's, Whittington, comes to Matthew with a proposition: the chance to see the inner-workings of smart kids in a good school. Joe has no choice but to suspend Harry and put him to work in the administration office until the hearing. Suspecting Mr. Reese to be the actual culprit -- which he is -- Joe requests Johnny's father meet with him to talk about the incident. Joe and Carol discuss whether or not they should keep the baby. Charlie has a good laugh at Harry's expense now that they're both in the rubber room. Sara blasts Joe for suspending Harry, but Joe turns the conversation around and asks Sara to step up while Jack and Harry are out of commission. Jack leaves the hospital a poor man. Whittington shows Matthew how well-behaved and sharp (and smug) the suit-wearing students at Darwin Prep are. Back at Benjamin Harrison, Matthew tries to conv

Most of the faculty decide to strike, leaving Joe scrambling for substitutes when he refuses to shut the school down, while Sara's and Harry's relationship is put to the test when they wind up on opposite sides of the picket line. Meanwhile, Harry and Jack face additional stress when Harry's ex-wife, Chris, sues him for custody of Max and Nicole, and Jack has a fender bender with Mary Caitlin, who doesn't have insurance.