Fish brings in a client, an 80-something world famous artist, who is battling his heirs to regain control of his estate. Ally and Billy co-counsel the case, and as a result of spending several late nights together, separately conclude that the artist's love of his recently deceased wife parallels their own relationship in many ways. Meanwhile, Cage begins to sense that Ally is losing interest in the possibility of getting together when she behaves in an overtly irritable manner that is obvious to the entire office. Fish loses his patience and decides to get to the bottom of Cage's problem with Ally.

Ally is a passenger in a car accident with the firm's client Greg Butters, a handsome doctor to whom she finds herself attracted. She attempts to handle the doctor's case herself, but finds she just cannot. Ally confides in her "therapist" that she is attracted to the doctor and is enthusiastically encouraged her to use her sex appeal to take the initiative with him. Ally decides the therapist should meet the entire cast of characters in her life and talks her into showing up at the bar after work one night. Fish argues a case of sexual discrimination on behalf of a client who missed a promotion because she didn't sleep with her boss.

A wealthy client is brutally murdered and the wife is implicated. Her only defense when caught red-handed is that she has no recollection of what had taken place. Billy, anxious to take on bigger cases, is the lone voice advocating for the firm taking the criminal case, but Fish and Cage ultimately decide it should be farmed out. Georgia, meanwhile, takes on a case about a heterosexual waiter suing for discrimination and wrongful dismissal when he's fired from his job for not being gay.

The crossover continues on The Practice S02E26 Axe Murderer (II).

John Cage must confront the cowardice of his convictions when he comes face to face with an ex-law school classmate who is coincidentally trying the case he's representing. It becomes obvious to Ally that John is deeply in love with this woman. Cage admits he took the safe way out, protecting the friendship versus risking losing everything if he were to be rejected by her. Ally encourages Cage to tell the woman, Hayley, that he has feelings for her, which he does as part of his closing arguments. Meanwhile, Georgia and Fish take on a case about a jilted bride-to-be who sues for emotional and physical damage. The judge for this case is Whipper Cone, who finds it difficult to hide her bias against her ex-lover, Richard Fish. He takes the opportunity to confront Whipper one more time and tells her that he misses her. Whipper in return, finally smiles, leaving the door open by telling him she'll take it all under advisement.

Feeling nervous that the firm is not making enough money, Fish and Cage decide to hire another associate, a "rainmaker" who can bring in lucrative clients. They hire Nelle Porter, an attractive, late 20's litigator from a respectable firm. On her first day, Nelle manages to irritate Ally, Georgia and Elaine, but Fish and Cage seem very pleased with her. Ally defends a woman in her late-30's accused of having sex with a minor. When the boy testifies, Ally finds herself attracted to him. Meanwhile, Cage takes on a case of a woman who is suing for wrongful dismissal from a travel agency. When the lawyers first meet the woman, they are stunned by her appearance.

Ally is feeling increasingly antipathetic towards Nelle Porter. She thinks Nelle brings out the darker side of the firm. Nelle represents a First Amendment case about a popular radio talk show host, ala Howard Stern, who is accused of inciting a hostile work atmosphere through his vulgar discourse. Nelle triumphs by implying that the talk show host has certain sexual dysfunctions, then promptly drops the case as a legal tactic. Ally becomes disgusted. Cage takes on the case of a restaurant owner being sued by a man claiming intentional infliction of emotional distress for serving horse meat to patrons. During the course of the case, Cage finds it increasingly difficult to do his job due to a preponderance of empathy for the horse in question.

Renee bumps into an old flame from high school and must decide if she wants to reignite the love of her life that happens to be married. Ally represents a Nun who lost her job because she broke her vows of celibacy. Stefan, the frog, re-appears but nearly dies in the process, leaving Cage sitting vigil over the comatose tree frog.

Ally finally shakes the pesky Wallace. Ling rescues Stefan the frog from a suicide jump only to have him served up as dinner. The gang at the firm mourns the untimely death of Judge Happy Boyle.

A group of mothers against pornography is trying to shut down Ling's female mud-wrestling club. Ally gets herself into a strange predicament just before a big date with a handsome former flame of Georgia's. Fish and Cage go undercover at the mud-wrestling club to do 'research' for the case.

Upon discovering her favorite high school teacher is terminally ill, Ally seeks a court order to allow the women to spend her remaining days in a drug-induced coma, happily dreaming of her imaginary lover. Cage must gather his courage to confront Nelle after Fish tells him she thinks Cage has not had sex with her because he's gay.

The lawyers are shocked to discover Ling has been keeping a secret. Ally visits Dr. Butters at the hospital one day and sees he's treating a terminally ill little boy. The little boy, Eric Stall, sees Ally in the doorway and finds out that she is a lawyer. He asks if he can retain her services because he wants to sue God. Ally tries to tell him it's not possible, but Ling, who was at the hospital at the same time, overhears and tells the boy not to listen to Ally.

Cage and Fish's firm gets a capital case to defend a man accused of murdering his comatose wife. He insists he fired up the chainsaw and cut off her hand after she was dead. Renee, who is prosecuting, has the testimony of the coroner who thinks the wife was alive and that the amateur surgery gave her a heart attack. Meanwhile, Billy and Georgia continue to patch up their marriage after Billy's indiscretion with Ally. Both of them are working on a case in which they are representing a man suing to get his job back with an insurance company who fired him over a bad hair day.

Cage continues to ride the high of his birthday gift from Nelle. It was a life changing night and has had a profound effect on his view of himself and his self-esteem in regards to women. The firm is defending another law firm, Johnson Biblico, in a suit alleging sex discrimination. Elaine is distraught that she won't be able to compete in the swing dance competition since her partner pulled his Achilles heel. Her hopes are raised when Ling reveals that she can dance swing and offers to enter with Elaine. Billy and Georgia continue to work on their relationship as part of the aftermath of Billy's almost-affair with Ally. They have started to see a marriage counselor, Dr. Hooper, who thinks it would be a good idea if Ally were to make an appearance.

Ally is plagued with hallucinations of Al Green. She talks about these hallucinations with Dr. Shirley Flott, who is seeing patients while Dr. Tracy is away. Shirley has no patience for Ally's daydreams and wants desperately to put her on Prozac. Wrestling with the idea of going on medication leads Ally to question what is so wrong about hallucinations: they bring her comfort and keep her in perspective? Meanwhile, Nelle and John defend a boy suspended for impulsively kissing one of the most beautiful girls in his class. During all this, Billy has had a series of "off the book" appointments and refuses to tell anyone, including Georgia, where he's going.

The first case Georgia brings to Renee's new firm pits them against Cage and Fish. Georgia defends Newman's, an upscale department store against Steve Mallory, who worked as the store's Santa for seventeen years. Cage represents Mallory, who claims that he was wrongfully fired because Newman wants to hire a younger, thinner Santa. Meanwhile, Ally is haunted by visions of herself as a little girl. Ally manages to bring Georgia and Billy together to talk, and Billy sees that he wants Georgia back. But Georgia is not as eager to work things out yet.

Elaine finds a real, live six-week-old baby in a nativity scene manger and wants to keep him. Cage and Ally represent Elaine in her fight to gain custody, while the rest of the office (full of child-less lawyers) become enchanted with the baby. Even Ling considers having children. Billy attempts to reconcile with Georgia. In preparation for the Christmas party, Elaine convinces Ally to sing a sexy song but Richard and Billy have their reservations.

Ally has a romantic dream about Cage and wakes up thinking that he may be the one for her. When she finally gets up the courage to tell him, he admits that he often thought she might be the one for him also. Meanwhile, Elaine goes on a date with a great guy only to learn that he asked her out because his friend said she was easy.

Georgia blames "Cage & Fish" for the new Billy, and is suing the firm for the break-up of their marriage. She cites many issues as leading to Billy's breakdown and the ultimate dissolution of their marriage. However, during the court hearing they discover that the root of the problem lies elsewhere.

The firm defends a woman accused of murdering her eighty-nine-year-old husband by suffocating him with... her breasts. Meanwhile, Ally struggles with turning thirty. She goes to church to find God, but instead finds an angry Reverend Newman who has a pet peeve about women who only need God between relationships. Ally's next stop at a plastic surgeon has even more devastating results.

Ally engages in a little virtual sex, with a guy she’s been writing to online for the past few months. At Renee’s prompting, Ally tries to arrange a meeting. Eventually, she does. By this time, Ally, or “Lover Lips” as she calls herself, thinks she’s found her “Thunder Thighs”. Upon seeing Brian, the opposing counsel in a case she and Mark are trying, she immediately is drawn to him. Later, Ally is in hot water when she realizes she's been chatting with underage kid.

Things go awry when Ally introduces Brian to her parents, resulting in conjuring up old pains and hurt feelings. Meanwhile, Nelle regrets her decision to leave Cage and Fish, and takes steps to rectify it. Also, it's John's birthday - emotional, entertaining, with lots of musical numbers.

Brian asks Ally to move in with him, but she questions the entire relationship mostly because their sex life is lackluster. She turns to Renee and a new therapist, who has oddly taken over Tracy's office, for advice. The therapist is weirdly understanding of her problems. She eventually decides to break up with Brian. Then she learns the new therapist isn't really a therapist at all, but a lawyer. Sparks fly between them nonetheless. At the firm, Cage and Fish represent a woman who wants her six-year-marriage annulled because she suspects her husband married her for her money. The woman, who is unattractive, says she and her husband were always great friends and she believed he just had no interest in sex. However, after she catches him cheating on her with a model, she changes her mind about him.

Richard and Ling take Cindy McCauliff's case. She was fired for refusing to take a physical, afraid people would find out she's a man. Richard and Ling, although a bit sickened with that, win the case. Cindy meets Mark at the office and they go out. Richard feels Mark has to know the truth, but Cindy says he'll know in the right time. Meanwhile, Ally organizes a models night at the club to attract men. Brian walks into the bar and is hurt by the sight of Ally dancing surrounded by men. He takes the microphone and thanks Ally for moving on so quickly. John and Nelle handle a case about a woman being sued for sexually harassing a man. They're up against Georgia and Renee, and John wins. He sleeps with the client and is a bit disappointed to find out he was a one-time-only thing.

Ally runs into Kimmie Bishop, an old friend of hers from college. Ally makes fun of her in front of her fellow puritan friends, and Kimmie is so outraged she decides to sue Ally for defamation. Instead of having someone from the office to defend her, Ally hires therapist/lawyer Larry Paul. When Renee tells her he's married, Ally freaks. At the bar, while trying to decide if she would date a father or a son, she sees Larry with Nelle. Turns out he's divorced, and so Larry dumps Nelle to go out with Ally. Meanwhile, Mark is having a hard time at the office because nobody approves his relationship with Cindy, so he breaks up with her.

Kimmie comes to Cage & Fish looking to hire Ally. She's suing her old firm for wrongful termination. They fired her for being too puritan, and the opposite lawyer is Larry. Now Ally and Larry have to face each other in court. Meanwhile, Ally is nervous about her first kiss with Larry and seeks for advice with Ling, who demonstrate on John how a good kiss should go. This makes Richard insecure of himself, and Nelle tells him to find a theme song for himself. John loses the case to Larry, but he and Kimmie go out on a date.

The Nicholas Engbloom comes to Cage & Fish looking for John to help him with a murder case. Melanie West suffers with Tourette's syndrome and accidentally ran over her boyfriend. She claims to have done it on purpose, only not to be humiliated as she has been her whole life. John convinces her to tell the truth and they win the case. While handling the West case, Nicholas finds himself involved in a divorce case. His wife wants to end their long time marriage because he won't retire and she feels like she can't compete with his work. After his wife almost dies, Nicholas abandons the practice, this time forever. Meanwhile, Richard teaches Mark how to use a "sex song" in order to please Elaine in bed, and John asks Melanie on a date.

Ally has hallucinations with Barry Manilow. Richard assigns Ling to work with Jackson Duper, the firm's newest lawyer. When they meet, Ling discovers that Jackson slept with her in the past under a fake name. They have to handle a double case of a man who wants his marriage annulled because his wife is a nymphomaniac and cheated on him 106 times and is suing the minister for having a torrid affair with her. Between the unisex bathroom, Elaine's vibra and Melanie's Tourette, Jackson is going crazy with his new job and questions his future in the firm. Meanwhile, John proposes to Melanie. But Melanie doesn't want to be institutionalized (even if that institution is marriage)...

Jackson and Renee's one night stand turns into something more; Ally visits several therapists to get over her hallucinations of Larry, who eventually appears in the flesh; John represents a man who wants to annul his marriage after his wife decides she doesn't want to have kids, a case that carries over into John's relationship with Melanie.

Cassandra surprises John when she suddenly shows up at the office. She wants to continue the relationship they started in LA, but John doesn't want to go on seeing her, because they're 3.000 miles away and he's not completely over Melanie yet. Ally takes the case of a man who's being sued because he didn't reveal to his internet date that he was a dwarf. Larry is representing the woman suing, and the case ends up reflecting on their own relationship as Ally questions Larry if they would be together if she was 3 feet tall. Ling and Jackson take a case of a woman who's suing her old boyfriend for interrupting her wedding ceremony. Jackson reveals his true feelings towards Ling, who is confused and torn between him and Richard. Caught in the middle of this is Renee, who feels used by Jackson.

Malcolm Wyatt hires Ally to take his case. He's suing a girl for not going to the prom with him after she said yes in fall. The opposing lawyer is Larry Paul, and Ally is nervous about meeting him in court. But he never shows up, and his partner Coretta tells Ally he left for Detroit. Richard hires Jane Wilco as the office's new secretary, but after she gets the cold shoulder from some people, Richard wonders what ever happened to the friendly workplace he once built. Ally talks to Billy's ghost and decides to go to Malcolm's prom as his date and convinces him to sing solo and never stop believing in love.

Ally and Glenn continue their flirtation, which leads to their conscious avoidance of each other, which does not go unnoticed by the others at Cage and Fish. She insists he’s too much of a “boy” for her, but continues to be attracted to him. He’s drawn to her because she’s a little older. Both use Jenny’s feelings as an excuse to not date as well. John takes off for parts unknown, which worries the ladies of the firm, especially Nelle. Richard takes it in stride, and takes over John’s abandoned hole off of the unisex. Raymond is sued by a former coworker for sexual harassment, and asks Jenny to represent him...

John makes a surprise return and is shocked after hearing from Raymond that Richard threw a party in his "hole". After confronting Richard, John gives the office a speech, in which he reveals the reason why and where he left to. Raymond gets Glenn and Ally to double date with him and Jenny. It's Jenny's birthday, and everyone forgets it. Glenn is the only one who didn't get her a present, so he sings a very romantic Elvis song at the bar for her. He asks her back, and she accepts. Ally wonders if she should hook up with John, but the ghost of Larry is still present in her thoughts. Meanwhile, Ling poses nude to boost her TV character; Corretta and Richard find themselves involved in a police investigation on a woman who used to marry rich old men for the money

Ally helps a minister who was fired from his church for not believing in God. Ever since his wife was brutally murdered, he has been questioning his beliefs and he asks Ally to talk to his son. Ally is surprised to see Malcolm again and encourages him to sing at his father's service after he is hired back. Meanwhile, John takes a case opposite a mayor who cancelled the Christmas parade of his town due to a disaster in which people died. Very moved, John proves that Christmas is what they need the most in this time of deep grief. Back in the office, Jenny and Elaine confront each other about Elaine's performance with Glenn in the office's Christmas party.

Jenny's mom's wedding is approaching, and Ally is shocked when Tim gives her a certain look that suggests a move. She talks to Jenny, and they decide to test him. Ally makes a move on him, and he offers her to have an affair. Surprisingly, Jenny's mom is ok with that, which only confuses Ally more. She's been hallucinating with a 7-year-old boy who keeps saying she's killing him. The boy is a version of Ally from when she believed in love (a conclusion made by Richard), before Billy died and Larry left. Meanwhile, John and Coretta help Kimmie Bishop, who's back suing a matchmaker for saying she's "unmatchable".

Ally impulsively buys a house, to which Dr. Milter concludes is a way of her to take care of herself, since Ally sees herself as a 'work in progress'. Richard gets the others to help paint the house as a surprise for Ally, who hires the handyman Victor to fix the house for her. Meanwhile, Ally handles a case of a man who spent too much money buying gifts for his wife until they went bankrupt. And Jenny has some back problems, to which Coretta recommends a chiropractor who has a special chair. Glenn gets extremely jealous that a chair is giving Jenny more pleasure than him, while Nelle tests the chair.

10 year-old Maddie Harrington shows up on Ally's door saying she's her daughter. She's the result of a mixup on the egg bank Ally deposited her eggs ten years ago. Since Maddie's father died six months ago, she's been living with her aunt, who sings TV themes on nightclubs for a living. After a lot of talking, Maddie decides to stay in Boston with Ally on a trial basis until they resolve where she will stay. Meanwhile, Richard takes the case of a man who killed his wife after kicking her in the head when he mistook her for a soccer ball. John doesn't think he'll be able to win the case because he can't litigate, but Richard surprises him when he wins.

Ally decided that in order for the firm to get out of the financial crisis it's going through, someone will have to be let go. She chooses Jenny, who between all the lawyers of the firm had the least number of clients and experience. Glenn takes Jenny's dismissal offensively and decides to quit, taking all his clients with him. Ally accepts his resignation, but Victor convinces her to hire him back since the firm can't afford to lose any clients. Glenn and Jenny decide to start a new firm together and leave Cage, Fish & McBeal once and for all. Now the other lawyers will have to do extra work to make up for the loss. Among the changes Ally is making on the firm, she wants Nelle to be nicer and asks her to perform at the bar, something she has never done before. Afraid of embarrassing herself, Nelle goes to Ling for help. They decide to have backing vocals, a plan that backfires when the singer who was going to dub Nelle suddenly loses her voice and Elaine has Claire Otoms to replace he

Ally decides to take the DNA test after having recurring dreams where Maddie's real parents show up claiming her. Maddie doesn't take that well and escapes to NY to see her aunt Bonnie. Maddie thinks the test is just Ally's way of having an excuse not to love her, but Ally only wants a proof that Maddie is her daughter so no one can take her away from her. The test comes out positive, and they both cry. Meanwhile, a demented woman shows up at Ally's door looking for Vincent, the love of her life who owned the house before Ally bought it. She thinks Victor is Vincent, and he plays along. She has a stroke and dies, and Victor suffers from it even though he only met her for less than a day. Ally also offers Raymond a job at the firm, which he takes. And Claire decides to help Richard reunite with his high school crush, but she had a sex change operation and is now a man, something that shocks Richard deeply.

A devastated Claire's goes to Ally for help after her fiancé calls the wedding off. Ally is still shaken with the memory of Larry and isn't sure of her feelings for Victor anymore. John and Nelle try to settle their case, but when Liza lowers her offer, John decide to take her down.

After Maddie passes out Ally finds out she is suffering from a nervous reaction to all the changes in her life, so Ally decides that the only way she can help her daughter is to move back to New York. While the news come as a big shock to the firm, Richard anticipates his wedding with Liza so Ally can attend the ceremony. While spending her last hours in the town, Ally gets a visit from Renee, Georgia and afterwards, Billy as a ghost...