The Gray family copes with the aftermath of a deadly explosion that involved Vincent.

Maxine goes overboard in mothering Vincent after he's released from the hospital and moves back into her house to recuperate; Amy sentences a teenager accused of bullying small children; Donna uncovers incriminating information about Ian; Lauren's soccer coach turns out to be an old friend of Amy's; after the police reach a dead end in a child molestation accusation, Maxine stumbles upon the ammunition needed to reopen the case; Lauren lays a guilt trip on Amy about her being a work-outside-the-home mother; Amy demands a written apology after the investigation about her relationship with Bruce is dropped for insufficient evidence; when Gillian and Amy disagree about babysitters, Peter disagrees with his wife's plans to quit her job; after presiding over the case of a teenager whose infant son died after she left him on the steps of a church, Amy goes ballistic when a father at one of the soccer games becomes verbally abusive; Amy gets Bruce transferred back to her court, and is ...

Vincent returns to work; Gillian nervously agrees to allow Donna to babysit for Ned so that she and Peter can have a romantic wedding anniversary celebration; Amy takes an instant dislike to Lolly's husband when she accepts an invitation to dinner; after Russell's mother begs him to recall her son's last moments, Vincent pores over the police tapes, struggling to remember; Amy decides the fate of a teenager found guilty of accidentally killing a classmate; Maxine incurs Sean's displeasure when she hands out a condom during the birth control class she volunteers to teach on her own time; Amy is distraught when she realizes that she was greatly mistaken in dismissing a stalking claim as frivolous.

Amy contends with a high profile attorney who attempts to bully her during a paternity case; Maxine struggles over mending fences with a neighbor; Vincent's near-death experience gives him a sense of fearlessness that gets him into trouble with Len; Peter questions his ability to raise a biracial child after he ignores a colleague's racist remarks; Maxine continues her investigation into sexual abuse at a preschool; Amy and Lolly take a self-defense course together.

After losing it, Maxine has to take an anger management class. Amy is working on a case where a teenager had mutilated another player during a hockey game.

Amy finds out that her ex husband is getting remarried, and Maxine and Jared decide to cool it down.

Amy takes a case of a young girl in care of wanderer parents.

Donna experiences Braxton Hicks contractions and Maxine makes a discovery about their dog, Socrates.

Amy is asking other judges to help her with much delayed adoptions. Maxine gets great support for her future home for victims of child abuse.

Maxine has to deal with children's adoptions. Among them, a young boy who refuses the adoption, sure that his mother will come back.

Amy judges a case involving an HIV positive mother who wants to avoid screening her baby and to continue breast feeding her. She tries to decide between two interested men, and also tries very hard to get a new family dog.

Amy hears the case of a teenager protesting against discrimination by his school. Her friend's husband tries to kiss her after giving her a pair of shoes and she has to decide whether to be honest about this.

Amy presides over the case of a boy who shot and killed his sister without apparent remorse. She and Tom plan to tell their children they're dating. Peter and Gillian plan a christening for Ned.

Amy hears the case of a pregnant woman living in a group of people who believe that medical treatment is against the will of God. After a terrible shock, Peter gets a DUI and Gillian tells Maxine and Amy that she thinks he is an alcoholic.

Representing the governor, Stuart Collins offers Amy a chance to apply for an appellate court appointment if she'll rule against two women who both want to be named as the mother on their baby's birth certificate; Maxine's friend Vivian gets to see social work in action when her girls-day-out with Maxine gets derailed by a struggling and overworked farmer who believes that his kids should be at home working on the family dairy farm rather than at school; a mourning Gillian finds solace from an online support group when Peter offers her none; Vincent becomes concerned about his finances when he learns that Carole has quite a nest egg; Amy apologizes to Rob, and they reconcile. Written by Skippy Mcgee

Amy must decide whether to terminate the parental rights of a couple convicted of child abuse; Maxine's disrespect rubs a building inspector the wrong way, endangering the scheduled opening for Sanctuary House and thus the federal funds needed for its operation; Amy grapples with her jealousy over Lauren's attachment to Katie; Donna decides to divorce Oscar; Bruce and his sister Winnie quarrel over where their mother should live. Written by Skippy Mcgee

Amy hears a manslaughter case involving a 15-year-old boy who's into goth and accused of luring a girl into a mutual suicide pact; Maxine investigates allegations that a boy is being neglected by his mother; Gillian meets a man she's been corresponding with via the Internet. Written by Skippy Mcgee

Maxine contemplates ending her relationship with Jared after meeting his son again, while Amy oversees a case involving a mother who wants to deny visitation rights to her daughter's grandparents; Vincent's decision to quit his job to write a novel unsettles Carole. Written by Skippy Mcgee

Jonathan Ashworth joins the Sanctuary House team and manages to ruffle everyone's feathers; Amy tries unsuccessfully to displace some doubts about her relationship with Rob onto Maxine, but is finally forced to confront reality; Bruce quarrels with Winnie over their mother's move; Maxine is displeased at the methods Jonathan uses to engineer the arrest and conviction of the Roseland pedophile; Amy hears the case of a boy with gender identity disorder whose parents are charged with educational neglect for keeping him out of school after he's harassed by his classmates. Written by Skippy Mcgee

Felled by the flu, Amy collapses in court, but not before presiding over a custody hearing for a cow; long-buried feelings erupt between Gillian and Peter when Evie offers to return Ned; Amy's caseload has more of an effect on her temporary replacement than he expected; after Sean grounds her to desk duty for taking wannabee gangbangers on an unauthorized field trip to the local I.C.U. which draws outcries from their parents, Maxine decides not to ask him for a few days off to accompany Jared on a business trip to China; Carole accepts a job offer in San Francisco and asks Vincent to come with her; Sean supports Maxine when Jared's plane is reported missing; the Gray family rejoices when both Ned and Jared are returned to them safely. Written by Skippy Mcgee

Amy gets an offer to be in a TV debate, while Maxine investigates a case of familial child abuse she finds particularly distressing.

Amy judges the case of a wife who repeatedly accuses her husband of mistreating their daughter without proof, which comes to an unexpected and tragic conclusion. Vincent and Carole continue to discuss moving to San Francisco.