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Desirable nurse Hildie Jackson spends her time at Alden General fighting off the attention of unwanted suitors, but when charismatic architect Fitz Condon becomes a patient, Hildie is unable to resist his charms. They begin an affair, but Hildie soon realizes why she was better off resisting.

Lillian Carroll, the depressed, rejected wife of Dr. Clay Carroll, swallows a bottle pills and phones the hospital to inform her husband of her suicide. Dr. Steffen and the staff at Alden General do their best to keep Lillian talking in order to trace the call and find her before it's too late.

A twist on the ethics of doctor and patient confidentiality highlight this story in which the district attorney's office authorizes an electronic listening device in a hospital room, then wants to use the information overheard. Dr. Steffen refuses, citing patient privilege, but he soon learns that only the medical aspects of the conversation were considered privileged.

Nurse Karen Gardner's new assignment in the psychiatric ward calls into question her professional objectivity when patient Edith Arnold fails to progress in her recovery, and it comes to light that Nurse Gardner, herself once a psychiatric patient, has been using her personal experiences in her treatment of Arnold.

Heart surgeon Dr. Ken Houck's coldness following the death of a child bothers Gail. However, when she sees him breaking down in private, she offers to take him home and finds he's in a deeply troubled marriage. Soon she and Houck develop a more personal relationship.

Student nurse Kitty Lee is a Southern belle with an Electra complex and completely dissimilar to the younger student nurses at Alden General. Left out among her peers, Kitty turns to a mature mental patient similar to her image of her own father.

The staff and patients are witness to an unfolding drama across the street from the hospital as a man on a high ledge threatens to commit suicide.

Appalled that her terminal patient Arthur Devon will likely die alone, Nurse Thorpe disregards her usual objective nature and makes a concentrated effort to locate Devon's family. However, once she does, she soon realizes that there's a reason why Arthur Devon has lived a life apart from others.

While a new patient is dying, he does his best to make everyone hate him, even threatening to sue after he claims a prized medal was stolen. A doctor who's separated from his wife yearns for the company of the widowed head nurse.

Did the nurse commit euthanasia?

Dr. Edgar Miles treats the wealthiest mature women on Park Avenue. When the irascible Mrs. Pierce dies under suspicious circumstances, Dr. Miles finds himself facing the grand jury. Through a series of flashbacks, staff from Alden General recall on the witness stand their observations of Miles and his patient.

Dr. Ahmed Rashid arrives at Alden General from Pakistan to begin his residency. His gentle Eastern demeanor easily wins over Gail Lucas, but Dr. Rashid receives blatant hostility from prejudiced charge nurse Fay Loomis, who is determined to make Dr. Rashid's tenure as unpleasant as possible.

Dr. Joseph DeCarlo, a visiting pathologist from Europe, is invited to perform an autopsy on an unidentified patient bearing a numbered tattoo on his arm. DeCarlo, who spent years tortured in a German Nazi concentration camp and has a similar number in his own arm, worries the staff at Alden General when he becomes obsessed with uncovering the patient's identity.

In the first of a two-part story, high school student Robert Bauer is admitted to Alden General Hospital for observation. Seemingly unable to distinguish between reality and a violent fantasy world, Robert commits an horrific crime against a teacher, a crime he claims he doesn't remember.

In the final case of "The Doctors and the Nurses," Nurse Thorpe grows concerned when young Dr. Hodges continually requisitions morphine, but it isn't being prescribed for any of his patients. She shares her suspicions with Dr. Steffen, and they uncover Hodges' concealed attempts to help drug addict Nancy Landau wean herself off her addiction to narcotics.

Paul and Jean Wheeler eagerly await the birth of their first child. When Jean is checked into the hospital, a bottle of pills from a German pharmacy are among her personal effects. They're identified as thalidomide, and the Wheelers have to accept the likelihood of their child having severe birth defects.

After college student Lucas Kiley discovers that his girlfriend Lauri is pregnant, he is forced to seek help from his estranged father, a physician at Alden General, but is met with rejection. Nurse Thorpe decides to intercede in an effort to reconcile the father and son.

Gail's ballet performance in the student nurses' annual talent show becomes a huge hit with her colleagues, so much so that she decides to apply for a position with ballerina mistress Madame Orlova. Once accepted, Gail finds herself unable to cope with the rigorous training of two professions and must choose between them.

A brilliant young doctor at Alden General becomes the subject of a hospital inquiry after rumors abound that he cheated on a medical school exam. The rumors against Dr. Harry Warren initially found cannot be proven, but then his wife Sheila has an attack of conscience and decides to reveal what she knows about her husband's past.

Alden General's newly appointed priest Father Damien begins to doubt his vocation when his sensitive nature is unable to cope with all of the pain and suffering the hospital holds. He seeks solace from student nurse Sally Ellis, an equally sensitive sole, but their happiness is short lived.

Alden General's Dr. McClendon provides emergency treatment to a seriously injured woman at the site of an accident. Later, when the patient passes away, McClendon finds himself and the hospital itself exposed to a lawsuit blaming him for the woman's inevitable death.

Talented surgeon Dr. Lillian Bauer joins Alden General but immediately becomes the target of abuse and male chauvinist attitudes from Dr. Mehil who thinks women are inappropriate for surgical careers. Lillian finds an ally and potential love interest in colleague Dr. Campbell.

Maurice Borman, an American man accused of espionage, attempts suicide in an attempt to avoid a protracted trial for treason. The situation becomes even more complex after he's saved by Alden General staff, only to be diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.

In effort to achieve professional respect, black nurse Ginny Bishop disregards her ethnic roots. When her cousin Lonnie Hill is hired as an orderly at Alden General and is soon accused of providing liquor to an alcoholic patient, Ginny must confront issues of prejudice, race and self-acceptance.

Marjorie Ford confides in Nurse Thorpe one recent single extramarital infidelity. The one night stand has left her with a case of syphilis, and now she has to face explaining the situation to her husband Steve, as the doctors and nurses at Alden General attempt to alert the public to rising cases of venereal disease.