Reggie makes a special "connection" with her friend's, Sara, husband. While Reggie and Becker are with another couple, Becker receives an emergency page and must rush off, reluctantly leaving his credit card to pay for the meal. Then Reggie's friend, Sara, also races off to tend to her children, leaving her husband Richard to stay and enjoy dinner with Reggie. But the two end up enjoying more than a meal-they end the night with a dessert that wasn't on the menu.

John is elated to learn that an article he submitted is being published in The New York Medical Journal, but when it appears, his article is accompanied by a picture of an overweight, unattractive stranger. After constant phone calls to correct the mistake, John is finally able to meet Wally, the editor, but then even more damage occurs. Meanwhile, Jake loses his hearing after going to a concert, and Linda is the dumpee-not the dumper-when she goes out Arnoldo the water delivery man.

John is surprisingly flustered when he learns that his upbeat neighbor Chris left town without saying goodbye. Reggie's woman's intuition kicks in and she immediately assumes that John has more than just casual feelings for his neighbor. Meanwhile, Linda sublets her job for a week to a girl who actually manages to do less work than Linda.

A grumpy patient who claims he's dying insists that John visit him in the hospital every night. Also, Bob accidentally sees Chris naked in her apartment, but what really upsets her is that he doesn't brag to the guys about what a beautiful body she has.

John becomes jealous when Chris turns down his offer to watch a movie with him and instead goes out with another man. Later, in an awkward attempt to show Chris his true feelings, John shows up at her job and inadvertently gets her into trouble.

Chris gets jealous when she hears from John that he is dating an editor at a leading magazine and is going to spend Christmas with her in Vermont. Also: Bob fears that a street-corner Santa is out to get him, and Margaret tries to cheer up Linda by having her go caroling with a church group.

Margaret looks back 10 years to her first meeting with John, when she persuaded him to hire her and keep his practice open instead of closing shop and returning to Boston. Meanwhile, Bob hides at the diner from an angry tenant who wants him to fix a clogged drain; and Chris finds Jake's old keyboard.

John is stalked by an elderly but frisky neighbor (Betty Garrett) who is determined to make him her man. Also: Linda decides to tell her boyfriend (Shawn Christian), who thinks she lives in L.A., the truth about where she resides.

When Chris's all-too-friendly ex-husband unexpectedly shows up and stays at her apartment, Becker tries everything he can to keep the divorced duo apart.