A man in a wheel chair, Dr. Nate Lennox (James Woods), wheels out onto the ice at a skating rink. He's disoriented and told to leave by the rink staff. An ambulance brings him to the ER. Ray helps but Lennox keeps trying to roll his way out of the hospital. Via a computer on the wheel chair, he asks them to let him out.
The doctors X-ray Lennox and try to figure out what's wrong with him. His oxygen levels are falling and they realize he has Lou Gehrig's disease. Sam remembers seeing Lennox when she and Neela treated him about a year ago for shortness of breath. He was teaching a class and couldn't continue.
A year ago: Neela treats Lennox and tells him she placed out of his class but she was in awe of his work when she was in school. A woman named Fran Bevens comes into the hospital to make sure he's okay.
Present day: Fran is again at the hospital to see Lennox. Luka asks her to come outside and wants to know if they should operate on him or just make him comfortable for the inevitable. Abby immediately suctions out his lungs and says they should give him a tracheotomy so he can make it through the day. Otherwise, Lennox might not live.
Back in 2002: Lennox attends a speech and begins choking on his food. He's brought into the hospital and Greg tells him he needs a feeding tube because his lung strength gets worse every day. Lennox breaks down in front of Greg, and Fran says his emotions are erratic because of the disease.
Present day: Lennox gets a new feeding tube and Abby tests his lung function — it's barely registering. Abby tells Lennox that the best way for them to help his breathing is to give him a tracheotomy. She thinks he won't recover without it. He says okay — using his computer. But Lennox then says, "I'm okay," and there's confusion over whether he wants the procedure or not.
Lucien and Neela come down to operate on Lennox and insert the tracheotomy into his throat. There's a minor complication and he starts bleeding profusely. They can't give him morphine because he'd had a bad reaction to it in 2001, when he had a broken wrist.
Back in 2001: Lennox gets his wrist fixed and Luka tells him it's time for a wheelchair. Luka asks how long he and Fran have been together. Lennox tells him they're not a couple; she works for him and has for 15 years. Lennox then throws up as a side effect from the morphine.
Present day: They continue operating on Lennox and Lucien says he's never seen anything like this. They clear the problem and his tracheotomy is a success. Unfortunately, the blood loss may have deprived his brain of oxygen. Fran says she doesn't want help at home because all the caregivers they've had, he's sent away. She wants to take him home because she promised him she would.
Lennox finally comes to and wants to know what they've been doing to him. He didn't want the tracheotomy because he believes that once the disease affects his facial muscles, he may as well be dead. He asks Abby to take the tracheotomy tube out, but she says she can't do it. He also wants to go home, and Abby doesn't want to discharge him.
Lennox wheels himself out of the hospital and Abby begs him to stay for two more days. He says he's too tired to keep fighting the disease. She wants him to stay alive long enough to find a cure. If he doesn't recover, she says she'll be there to assist him with dying comfortably. Abby convinces him to stay in the hospital and he's impressed by how good of a doctor she's become. She says she owes it all to him, when she took his class in 1999.
Back in 1999: Abby talks to Lennox and asks him if she can drop his class. She doesn't think she wants to be a doctor — it's too hard. He convinces her to stick around and offers to tutor her.
