Gang members kidnap Abby hoping she can save one of their members with a gunshot wound. Ray starts treating a patient, but when she requests a new doctor, he gets offended.

Pratt's half-brother tries to get him to make ends meet with his estranged father. Clemente treats an infant chimpanzee and involves Abby and Neela on the secret case. Eve promotes Sam and her first tasks is to fire a beloved nurse.

Abby and Luka desperately try to keep a young woman brought into the ER with stab wounds to the neck alive. As her condition begins to worsen, Clemente steps in and tries a risky procedure on the girl in order to save her life. Meanwhile, Neela pulls an all-nighter in preparation for a speech at a surgeon's convention, Ray treats a man claiming to have swallowed a bottle of pills, and Sam decides to take a part-time job with Richard to help her with childcare expenses.

Weaver, Kovac, and the other doctors work frantically to try to save Jerry and a pregnant Abby, who were both critically injured during the shootout that left the ER in shambles. Meanwhile, Sam tries to escape from her ex-boyfriend and his criminal accomplices as they head north, but things quickly turn violent.

Gates is assigned to the case of a closeted gay man whose partner clashes with his family; Neela meets her new surgical chief, Dr. Crenshaw; and Pratt must cope with the flood of new interns.

Thanksgiving at County is quiet, with the normal number of routine (or nearly so) emergencies. But Abby makes up for the lack of excitement while returning to the hospital as the doctor on a helicopter transport.

It's Christmas in the ER. A homeless boy sends Gates and Ray on a mission. Meanwhile, in the ER, Neela oversees an unusual kidney transplant case; Sam takes a stand when a patient is dumped in an alley by another hospital; and Morris plays Santa for a special girl and learns the meaning of Christmas.

It's Sam's birthday, but she finds it hard to be away from her son Alex. Meanwhile, Sam meets a photographer taking pictures of a terminal patient and she gives Sam a new perspective on life. Dubenko's new surgical intern unsettles Neela during a trauma; Gates is shadowed by a new and nerdy intern and later must tell Sarah the truth that he may be her biological father. Also, Morris and Hope annoy Kovac and Abby when they try to help with their wedding preparations.

Season Premiere. Moretti's first day is challenging as the ER is inundated with casualties from the peace rally - including Neela. Dubenko faces a crisis in surgery. Abby, Pratt and Morris conspire about how to deal with a shared problem. A new intern arrives unexpectedly, and Gates is reassigned.

When Baby Joe is injured by a fall at the playground and rushed to the hospital, Abby is unable to reach Luka to tell him.

Neela's short visit in Ortho turns into a game of hockey. Bettina wants to take her relationship with Pratt to the next level, but Pratt is not keen on the idea. Gates and Sam disagree over a patient. Julia provides some spiritual guidance in order to ease a prison doctor's bad conscience.

There's been a jewelry robbery in town, and Neela finds out that one of her patients might have had something to do with it. Pratt makes an effort to save his relationship with Bettina, and Abby worries about her marriage, sensing that Luka may have given up on it.

Chaz, now a med student, begins his ER rotation. Morris takes him under his wing and shows him some risky procedures, endangering a patient and raising Banfield's ire. Neela becomes upset when Banfield questions her authority and skills in front of her intern. Gates invites Sam and Alex to move in with him and Sarah.