After army officers Nick Hauser and Rodger Gage check in for a weekend on the town, Rodger has an illicit rendezvous with his gay lover. In a gay neighborhood, street punks beat up Rodger, and Nick learns his army colleague's secret. Nick furiously demands that Rodger leave the hotel. Bellman Dave, who is Rodger's old friend, has a talk with Nick, helping him realize that Rodger is a good friend, regardless of his sexual orientation. Meanwhile, Elizabeth interferes with important communications between Christine and a potential client, making Christine look incompetent just as Charles Cabot is questioning Peter and Christine's managerial capabilities. Elizabeth also schemes to estrange Christine from Peter by spilling wine on her dress while visiting Peter. When Christine arrives to find Elizabeth wearing Peter's robe, Christine assumes the worst.

Charles Cabot tries to revive an old romance with Dr. Hannah Fielding, who is attending a convention of the World Health Organization. Their previous involvement years before had ended because Hannah knew that Charles's first love was his business affairs. Charles woos Hannah into spending the night with him, but she decides to end it there and return to her work with third-world children. Brede Ashlander, a charismatic multimillionaire yet also a domineering husband, hounds hotel employee Marie Lockhart. Marie had fled from him two months ago and now wants a divorce, but Brede tells Christine that Marie is in need of psychiatric therapy. When Brede tries to remove Marie by force, Christine prevents him and assigns the hotel lawyer to Marie's divorce case. When Charles agrees to sell Cabot Corporation's half of the hotel to an Australian conglomerate, Peter refuses to sell his interest. Peter's impassioned and eloquent refusal inspires Charles to withdraw from the sale and leave the af