Reggie defends an unwed pregnant African-American teenager, Zora Ward, who wants to keep her baby. However, Zora's mother, Alice Ward, is trying to get her declared incompetent so the baby can be given up for adoption. Despite Reggie's concern, she doubts that Zora is telling the truth about the baby's father. Roosevelt tries to convince Reggie to persuade Zora to allow his rich, longtime friends to adopt her baby because they desperately want a healthy African-American newborn. When Zora is shot outside her own home, Reggie must unravel the mystery. Meanwhile, Gus allows Reggie to visit her children, but tells her that they don't want to see her. Also, she must help Lenny again.

Momma Love enlists Reggie's help when Momma's friend Verna accepts a marriage proposal from a wealthy retiree whose daughter wants to destroy the marriage for her own financial gain. What begins as a simple temporary restraining order request turns deadly when Reggie discovers that all of Buddy's previous girlfriends have mysteriously disappeared. While helping her on the case, Clint puts his probation in jeopardy when he gets in a fight with a nursing home worker whose bedside manner isn't up to par. Meanwhile, Reggie struggles to prepare a speech honoring her late father, a beloved high school football coach, with whom she had a distant at best relationship. At the same time, she anxiously anticipates the first visit from her own estranged children; though her daughter, Alison, gets right back on the plane after arriving, her son, Chris, very much wants to stay with her.

In a production of ""Romeo and Juliet"" at a predominately white school, Jamal James Garrett, a black kid, plays Romeo. This aggravates racial tensions because a white girl, Leigh-Ann, plays Juliet. When Jamal is taunted, he retaliates by burning a Confederate flag. Community outrage erupts, and he is expelled from school. Reggie sues the school to have Jamal reinstated, but her own life is in danger from a group of bigoted assailants. Momma Love defends the Confederate flag as a great symbol of their Southern heritage. Roy, who weighs the virtue of the law against the typical character of his political supporters, publicly urges Jamal's indictment for burning the flag, while privately masterminding his release.

Reggie attempts to help a young boy, Ryan Nichols, find his father, Dewey, who was in the witness protection program, so that Dewey can donate bone marrow for the boy's severely ailing younger sister. Reggie and Foltrigg were responsible for convincing the missing Dewey to testify against two notorious gangsters who were sent to prison as a result. They then helped him and his family hide in order to avoid retaliation. But when he lost his job and couldn't get another, Dewey fled, leaving his family with no way to find him. Clint and Reggie locate him, but a hit man takes Dewey hostage. Foltrigg arrives and saves him.

During their investigation of a child abuse case, Clint surprises Reggie when he makes an off-the-cuff remark to her about his own childhood scars from his father. The case itself is also much more complicated than it appears on the surface; the victim's mother, Dora – a crack addict – is an unfit parent, but she insists it's her son's foster parents who are abusing him while the boy, Jeff, claims his injuries are self-inflicted. The investigation soon turns up frightening connections to a series of child pornography cases involving the foster parents. Meanwhile, Christmastime brings excited preparations by Reggie and Momma Love for Alison and Chris' Christmas-day visit just as it forces Clint to finally acknowledge his abuse before visiting his father for the holiday.

Reggie's long-time friend, Karen, visits with her mother and her daughter, Amy, a gymnast in training for the Olympics. The visit turns into an investigation after Reggie observes a practice session and suspects the coach of abuse, culminating in the suspicious death of one of Amy's teammates. Meanwhile, Foltrigg considers hiring a political consultant to help him in his quest for the governor's office, and Reggie finds herself in hot water with the IRS when she's arrested for owing backtaxes thanks to Gus' not reporting their divorce. Though her accountant, Arnie, is able to straighten out the immediate situation at hand, he reminds Reggie that her financial situation will only continue to get worse if she doesn't finally start getting some paying clients.