In the pilot, Dr Brian McKenzie has to deal with various patients, the hospital budget, and his two zealous assistants. He has a gambling habit that has to be fed, and a mistress who has to be bedded. And he has family problems: an ex-wife who hates him and a son (Scott Grimes) to whom he never talks. The main storyline concerns a suicidal 16-year-old patient.
Dr. McKenzie (Brian Dennehy) contends Scott's girlfriend is manic depressive.The volatility of Scott's girlfriend (Charlotte Ross) helps make her a patient; the ward gets a new administrator (Lee Garlington), and a patient (Joe Seneca) who appears to have X-ray spectacles.