Amy Madison Gray struggles to adjust to the new circumstances in her life as she separates from her husband and becomes a single mother to her young daughter, Lauren; moves from Manhattan to Hartford,…

Short calendar day drops 54 cases on Amy's docket, and the long day stretches into night when she's forced to make a life and death decision about the fate of an abused child; Maxine decides to return…

Sitting in for a friend who's undergoing chemotherapy, Amy presides over her first jury trial and clashes with a former law school classmate who represents the parents of a murdered girl who are suing…

Amy must determine if a comatose boy who is believed to have healing powers is being abused by his grandmother; Maxine clashes with her supervisor over taking an underfed little girl away from her ano…

A death threat, coupled with Maxine's disapproval, puts a crimp in Amy's blossoming relationship with Tracy; Vincent begins to feel like he's Chris's pet project; Maxine rekindles an old friendship; A…

A woman fights for custody of her son after the boy's father claims that her practice of the Wiccan religion makes her an unfit mother; Vincent gets an agent; in the week before Halloween, Lauren gets…

Maxine fights to keep a deaf boy in the care of his teenage brother after they are orphaned; Bruce disagrees with Amy's decision in an interracial adoption case; Vincent gets a job teaching writing; D…

Amy presides over the sentencing hearing of an emotionally immature teenager convicted of the murder of a ten year old girl during a drive-by shooting; Vincent is shot when he attempts to rescue a wom…

Amy juggles preparing Thanksgiving dinner, being on call, and coping with a surprise announcement from Michael; Gillian asks Maxine for help in financing another in-vitro procedure; Amy presides over …

Amy hears the case of an extremely abused, mentally ill teenager who has stabbed a teacher; Vincent's agent finds him a publisher who will sign him only if he completes another short story in the next…

Amy takes it personally when Stuart appeals her decision to overturn the jury's verdict; Maxine arrives at a creative solution in placing an extremely gifted teenager who chronically runs away from hi…

Amy threatens to remove a young boy from the custody of a father who asserts his right to beat his son regularly with a belt, leaving welts; Maxine becomes frustrated by her ever-increasing case load …

Michael's insistence upon joint custody of Lauren after Amy requests an increase in child support payments dooms the divorce mediation process, and they each retain high-powered and aggressive attorne…

Amy must decide if a young boy accused of shaking his infant sister to death is guilty of murder; Maxine fights to keep a 10 year old girl away from her abusive stepfather; Vincent struggles with the …

Amy is assigned to a Judicial Conduct Commission panel which will decide the fate of a judge accused of demanding sexual favors from a prostitute in exchange for a reduced sentence; Maxine faces a cul…

Amy gears up for the custody battle over Lauren; Vincent takes a job at the local newspaper to help him overcome a severe case of writer's block; Amy suffers from a bad bout of insomnia that's coupled…

Amy must decide if a brain-injured woman is fit to be a mother; Maxine discovers that a teenaged client is being abused by his therapist; Leisha meets Amy, and faces her ire for piercing Lauren's ears…

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 unsu…

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; …

Amy decides the fate of two teenagers arrested for possession of a date rape drug; Greta returns to work with a newfound appreciation of her spirituality, causing Amy to question her own; while workin…

Maxine gets a new supervisor at D.C.F.; Donna becomes stressed when Oscar's attorneys petition to have his conviction reversed; Amy and Maxine are at odds over having Maxine's terminally ill client te…

After going on the date from hell with a Yale professor, Amy has one last fling with Michael the day their divorce becomes final; Maxine returns a stowaway boy to his mother; when Donna and Vincent pe…

Vincent is injured in an explosion when he attempts to dissuade an old friend threatening to blow up the court house after he loses custody of his sons in Amy's court; Charles accuses Maxine of being …

As the Gray family tries to cope with the aftermath of the explosion, Maxine cuts back on her workload to help Vincent through his difficult recovery, while Amy realizes that she's still harboring res…

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 uncover…

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 h…

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 …

Amy seeks to have Lauren qualified as a ""gifted"" student; Maxine agrees to take a anger management class after going too far in insulting a coworker and accosting the boy who vandalized the Gray hom…

Amy is as shocked as Lauren is pleased to learn of Michael and Leisha's impending wedding; sensing that Maxine has reservations about their relationship, Jared suggests that they take some time away f…

Amy must decide whether to remove an eleven year old girl from the custody of her Wanderer parents; Vincent writes an article criticizing the foster care system which gets a frosty reception from his …

When Donna's birthing center burns down the night before she goes into labor, the Grays offer the use of their house for her baby's water birth; the family becomes concerned at Maxine's curiously dis…

Amy gets to know Rob, Lauren's very attractive sensei, better when he brings Lauren home from class after Amy has forgotten to pick her up; Maxine finds some powerful allies in her quest to open a fa…

Evie walks back into Ned's life just as Peter and Gillian are set to adopt him; Maxine deals with a young girl who wants to be adopted before her 18th birthday, and a 12-year-old boy who refuses to be…

Amy finds herself in the middle of a love triangle when she considers giving Tom Gillette a second chance while she continues to date Rob; Maxine investigates the case of a boy from a seemingly perfec…

Amy finds herself fending off Nick's advances and agonizes over whether she should tell Lolly; Maxine assists a detective in tracking down an undocumented Cambodian boy's parents; Amy rules on a case …

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 Don…

Peter and Gillian lose custody of Ned to Evie; Peter tries to drown his grief in alcohol and is arrested for drunk driving; Gillian fixates on Peter's drinking to avoid dealing with her loss; Amy must…

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…

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 Sanctu…

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 …

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; Vin…

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…

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 caseloa…

The Sanctuary House staff works together to determine the identity of the adult who molested a twelve year old boy who confessed to raping his five year old sister; after Bruce arbitrates a visitation…

Maxine reunites a couple with their kidnapped baby; Vincent is upset when Carole usurps his prerogative to tell his family about their move in his own way and time by blurting out the news over family…

After pleas from Maxine and Peter, Amy takes the first step in mending fences with Vincent; back in town with a new job working in the prosecutor's office, Stu Collins has a near-fatal heart attack af…

Vincent and Amy are frantic when Maxine disappears; Carole ignores a lump on her breast; Amy suspects a lawyer of exploiting starving children and also hears the case of two kids who attack a Live the…

Amy must decide the appropriate punishments for a high school gang leader who tortured an undercover police officer, and for a teenage girl who perpetrated day-trading fraud; Maxine helps an abused li…

Amy must rule on the fate of conjoined twins; Jared proposes to Maxine before taking a job in China; Carole tries to push Vincent away after she learns the lump on her breast is malignant.

Amy hears the case of two teenagers accused of causing the suicide of a classmate by deliberately posting lies about her sexual activity on their web site. The long arm of politics reaches out to Max…

Amy must decide whether to modify a custody agreement and allow a woman to take her daughter to Paris for two years against the wishes of the girl's father; back to work at the DCF, Maxine takes on th…

Amy asks Bruce to set her up with his friend, but it doesn't go quite the way she planned; Amy hears cases involving a woman who breastfeeds her 6 year old son and a couple who can't decide whether to…

Donna stumbles as she subs for Bruce as Amy's C.S.O. while he attempts to convince the probation officer of a teenager that Amy assigned to a diversionary program to keep the boy out of prison after a…

Amy feels responsible when three teenagers she sentenced to community service are killed by a drunken driver during their work detail, until Kyle gives her a new perspective on the situation; Maxine a…

Lauren asks if ""cheating"" was the reason her parents divorced; Bruce warns Amy that she's being set up after Judge Keeler asks to observe her in court; Maxine enlists Kyle's extreme sports expertise…

At the request of Vincent's editor, Amy picks up where her brother left off in his investigation of Judge Keeler; Kyle gets off to a rocky start in his new job as a counselor at Teen Harbor; Maxine he…

After her brother Richard arrives in town looking for his son, Maxine initially refuses to put him in touch with Kyle, but later relents; in the process of helping Donna with her estate planning, Pete…

Amy hears the case of a disturbed teenager who successfully impersonated a police officer at a high school for several months, carrying a loaded gun, and who was only discovered after being arrested f…

Barry invites Amy to a business dinner, where her outspokenness almost gets the better of her and the budding relationship with Barry; with Kyle's help, Maxine searches the streets for a runaway gay t…

Maxine reluctantly allows Eric to stay at her house when she's unable to find him the right placement; Amy makes a second date with Barry; Kyle helps a former drug addict who goes to extremes to find …

Amy presides over a sad custody dispute in which neither parent wants a troubled teenager; Bruce sets down some ground rules with Andrea about their relationship; Amy is frustrated, bewildered, and an…

Amy's suspicion that a little ""pretty girl voodoo"" is behind the case of a teenager who beat up the abusive ex-boyfriend of a girl on whom he had a crush is confirmed when prosecutor Jonathan Ashwor…

When a teenager whom neither parent wanted and Amy placed in a locked facility escapes and comes into D.C.F. with bruises she says were caused by abuse at the facility, Maxine's decision to have her r…

The Gray house is completely ransacked by vandals who appear to have targeted the house after receiving an adverse judgment in Amy's courtroom, and it takes all of Amy's persuasiveness to convince her…

Maxine is saddened when Jared fails to call her upon his return from China, so Sean arranges a casino night fund raiser to cheer her up; a born-again teenager charges her mother with parental neglect …

Maxine works more tirelessly than ever on the Pamela Taylor investigation as she assists an attorney in finding other abused teens who are willing to join in the Taylors' class action suit against Buc…

Amy turns into a henpecking daughter upon Maxine's return from the hospital, forcing her mother to suffer through a healthier diet and a walking group for seniors; after Maxine questions the wisdom of…

Amy, Maxine and Lauren have trouble adjusting to their new living arrangements; Vincent returns for a visit to smooth over the waters between his mother and sister and persuade them to live together a…

Although Amy tries to make the best of it, she and Lauren are still miserable in their small apartment; unable to avoid running into Jared and his date at the diner while looking and feeling her worst…

Amy and Michael agree to work out Lauren's custody with a mediator; Maxine and Kimberly clash over a child lost in the system; Jared returns from China to get an answer from Maxine; Lauren fears that …

Amy's discovers that the man the police have in custody may not be her stalker after all; Maxine refuses to give up on a client who may be the victim of police brutality; after Bruce denies having rom…

As Amy decides the fate of a ten year old boy who was kidnapped by his adoptive parents when they lost custody to his birth mother, she finds an answer to some of her own family's pressing concerns; B…

Amy presides over the custody hearing of a boy whose mother died in the collapse of the World Trade Center; an old friend offers Kyle a job with a pharmaceutical company, and Maxine counteroffers with…

Amy must decide whether a teenager is responsible for the death of an infant she was babysitting; Maxine investigates an abuse case at the home of a disabled veteran and his adopted granddaughter; Kyl…

Amy must decide if a student raped his teacher or was seduced by her; Kyle is unhappy about his nonmedical duties at St. Michael's; Maxine tries to locate the mother of an abandoned newborn; after Jas…

Amy hears the case of a young boy charged with obstruction of justice for not revealing the name of the man who took pornographic pictures of him; Maxine contends with a woman who allows her abusive h…

Amy's ruling in the case of a teenager who called in a bomb scare to avoid a test is complicated by the arrival of an I.N.S. agent who's ready to deport the boy to Afghanistan, and almost certain deat…

Maxine and Jared move up their wedding date, to the consternation of their children; Peter's plans for a classy bachelor party go awry, but the men manage to have a good time at a less highbrow establ…

Amy must decide if a little girl in the middle of a bitter custody dispute is being molested by her father; doing research for a paper, Donna shadows Maxine during a day in which she deals with the ne…

Maxine incurs the wrath of the mothers in Lauren's carpool; Amy fears her parenting skills will be called into question when a family-relations officer visits her home as part of Michael's custody sui…

After Amy accidently sets on fire the homework that Lauren has spent hours painstakingly hand-calligraphing, she agrees to make it up to her by spending the weekend role-playing at an 18th century inn…

Amy and Michael face off in court, and the resolution of their custody battle reveals yet another unsavory aspect of Michael's character; Kyle counsels a mother who struggles over a DNR order for her …

Maxine and Sean battle a sleazy attorney with a penchant for blackmail when they attempt to remove a child from her negligent parents; Amy presides over the case of a deadbeat dad who is willing to go…

Maxine's reunion with Sally Godwin, her college classmate and former co-worker in the social work trenches, comes under strain after the up-and-coming politician reveals that she's back in town to eva…

Stuart Collins returns from Sri Lanka reincarnated as a criminal defense attorney eager to take on Eric's case and renew his romance with Amy; Peter and Gillian hear unsettling news about the potentia…

Amy, Bruce, Lauren, Sean and Maxine rally around Eric as he goes on trial before an eccentric but wise judge; Maxine takes issue with Eric on a question of ethics about his testimony which colors her …

Maxine unwittingly provides Amy with the information she needs to decide whether promoters are responsible for the death of a teenager who died from an ecstasy overdose during one of their raves; Maxi…

Maxine tempers her frustrations over her daughter-in-law's outlandish plans for the Gray-Duff nuptuals after Peter tells his mother about Gillian's refusal to face their new baby's condition; Stu's pl…

Stu convinces a reluctant Amy to go on an overnight camping trip which ends up bringing them closer together; after planning to wed Jared secretly on the weekend, Maxine is devastated when he has a su…

Maxine's first day back on the job finds her removing a boy from the custody of his mother, who was one of Maxine's clients for a short time eight years earlier; although Amy is worried about Maxine's…

On ""Take Your Daughter to Work Day"", Lauren learns how lucky she is when she spends the afternoon with Maxine, and Rebecca becomes seriously injured after she falls during a seizure; Kyle continues …

Amy must decide if it's in a teenager's best interest to get married; Bruce investigates when he suspects that a teenager's probation violation isn't as innocent as his parole officer claims; Amy str…

A stressed out public defender goes ballistic in Amy's courtroom; Maxine tries to figure out why a woman who lost her son wants to give up her foster child; Kyle tells Lily how he feels, but it doesn'…

When Amy is transferred to criminal court, Bruce stays behind in juvenile court, and she inherits Spencer, an insolent clerk; Lauren has an extremely unhappy first day at junior high, but things brig…

After she's released from the hospital with a clean bill of health, Gillian reveals that she had a near-death experience during Walt's delivery, but can't seem to find anyone who believes her; when Am…

Maxine criticizes Amy's ruling that an emotionally-fragile girl is competent to serve as a witness in her mother's murder trial. Kyle, who doesn't know how he himself made it safely home after a nigh…

Amy presides over the case of a prominent athletic star accused of rape. Maxine, feeling the pressure to find a new place to live, considers selling the diner. Kyle tries to locate a kidney for a yo…

Still grieving over the loss of Jared, Maxine finds it difficult to listen to Amy and Stu plan their wedding; Bruce is less than thrilled working for Judge Bell; Gillian is sad and irritable that she…

In court for the sentencing phase of a capital murder trial, Amy must decide whether to stop the proceedings when one of the lawyers makes inappropriate remarks in the course of his closing argument. …

Forced to substitute for an ailing colleague just two days before her wedding, Amy presides over a felony murder case involving a 14 year old boy and makes a controversial decision to overturn the jur…

Back in Hartford after a few days in Maui to collect herself, Amy is faced with returning a room full of wedding presents, dealing with friends and family who can't resist commenting on her train wrec…

Maxine confronts the D.C.F. commissioner over his budget cuts when she discovers that young girls in the foster care system are being moved from group homes into a locked psychiatric facility to save …

Amy presides over the custody case of a young boy whose mother thinks he is being harmed by the Neanderthal on-air posturings of his shock-jock father; Maxine discovers that becoming a therapist in li…

The rift between Peter and Gillian widens at Walt's christening; Maxine overcomes her resistance and resumes therapy; when a tree that's been neglected crashes through Amy's kitchen window, she mistak…

Maxine takes a chance in placing a young boy about to be released from juvenile detention back with his formerly negligent mother; Amy substitutes for another judge in criminal court and soon realizes…

Ignacio says it with flowers as he continues his gentle pursuit of Maxine; Heather begins to act erratically around Kyle, who's shocked when he discovers the reason; Lauren and Peter each find a new p…

Despite their protests, Maxine and Amy fail to convince anyone that that dinners out with Ignacio and David don't constitute dating; Amy is asked to decide if a man in the Witness Protection Program c…

Donna gets a little too invested in the future of Amy's relationship, or lack thereof, with David; a teenager charged with larceny and criminal mischief for destroying a bike belonging to her brother'…

Peter is still unhappy about Maxine's dating Ignacio; on the anniversary of his wife's death, David asks Amy to accompany him to a support group meeting; Maxine teaches a young artist under DCF's care…

Kyle disregards Maxine's advice at his own peril when he bends the rules for a new mother who wants to hold her newborn baby just once before she's returned to prison; when the tension and awkwardnes…

Tensions run high as the family prepares for Ned's birthday party; a shoplifting trial in Amy's court exposes a prostitution ring in a group home for teenage girls; Maxine enlists the assistance of a…

Amy fusses over Lauren's overnight school field trip to Philadelphia with Victor; Bruce is in for a shock when an old friend comes for a visit; Amy confronts David after Lolly Wetzel repeats Greenwich…

Amy is dismayed when the courthouse cleaning lady tries to fix her up with her son amid gossip about David's departure; Lauren pesters Amy to send her to rock star camp; political posturing makes life…

Despite David's protests, Amy puts an end to their romantic relationship when he finally returns to Hartford; Maxine realizes that a teenaged client who was abused as a young child has become mentally…

Unwilling to let a poor client go to extremes to get prompt medical attention for her daughter, Maxine finds a way to get D.C.F. to cover the surgery the girl needs; David declares his love for Amy; M…

With all three of her children living once again under the same roof with her, Maxine finally decides to let them be the grownups that they are (horseplay notwithstanding) and fix their own breakfasts…

Vincent's struggles with his latest novel leads him into blowing off his agent, who responds by dropping Vincent and demanding the return of the advance that Vincent's already spent; Maxine receives a…

After Vincent asks his brother to lend him the money he needs to pay back the advance on his novel, Peter meets with his accountant to free up the funds and discovers that his business is headed towar…

Amy has difficulty dealing with Lauren's need for privacy; blinded by Anthony Bird's loss, Maxine lies to Sean and makes all the wrong choices in dealing with a teenaged boy who's holed up in a hotel …

Maxine teeters on the brink of collapse as she refuses to move out of Colton Gerard's hotel room, rages against Sean for his failure to run the department properly, and is suspended after being arrest…

Back at work from her suspension, Maxine is becoming unhinged as she desperately searches for Anthony Byrd; Amy spends a tense day awaiting the results of a breast biopsy; Donna's summation reveals ho…

Frantic with worry, the Gray siblings quarrel like two year olds, and Sean is wracked with guilt, as Maxine lies in an ICU bed recovering from a heart attack; Amy finally gets a new clerk, whose abili…

Maxine resists Gillian's home grown cardiac rehabilitation program; Lauren tells Amy that she wants to live with Michael; when Vincent comes to Sean looking for work, Sean refers him to Crystal Turner…

High-school student Graciela Reyes is brought to Amy's courtroom for violating her parole, but it is soon uncovered that the reason for this is that her mother has moved to Gautamala along with her tw…

Amy learns that she is pregnant with David's baby after taking a home pregnancy test, resulting in David returning from his sailing trip to discuss with Amy their future together and what they mean to…

When Amy tells Lauren about being pregnant, her reaction is not exactly what Amy would have liked; While working at the outreach office for teenage runaways, Vincent uses his flair for writing to enco…

Unaware that he is hiding his true feelings and pretending to be happy for her, Amy is annoyed by Bruce's casual response to news of her engagement. Amy is also annoyed that her relationship with Bruc…

Amy oversees an emotional case involving a 13-year-old boy with a history of violent behavior who shot and killed his grandfather who was suffering from terminal lung cancer; Maxine uncovers a human …

Amy finds it rather difficult to follow her mom's advice and embrace her 40th birthday as a milestone. Donna is in Amy's court representing a 13-year-old girl who accidentally kills her friend while …

Several weeks have passed since Amy's miscarriage, but things are not quite back to normal for her. She refuses to discuss the house with David and brushes off Bruce's admonition that she's becoming …

Lauren announces to the family that she has decided to become a vegetarian. Amy has a confrontation with Lauren's spiked-haired friend Reagan about the issue when Reagan and her brother stop by to ta…

Maxine and Patricia discuss their feelings about dating. Patricia falls for Ignacio when they bump into him at a restaurant. Maxine insists she is only friends with Ignacio, but her behavior suggest…

Amy dreams that Bruce makes breakfast for her and Maxine and then dances with her in the kitchen. Amy finds out about some new information that may get Graciella a new trial. Unfortunately, Graciell…

Amy says her final goodbyes to Graciela. Maxine realizes that she made a mistake in pushing Ignacio away and tries to reach out to him but Ignacio rebuffs her because he doesn't want to be her yo-yo,…