Present: As they welcome home Kelly, Ajoni and their new grandson, M.E. and Colliar try to repair their marriage; Rene brings three lawyers aboard to expand her firm. Past: M.E. and Rene start high school together.
Present: While Rene takes a case regarding a Native American artist's controversial mural of the Holocaust, M.E., confined to bed, passes time by spying on her neighbors, including a reclusive little boy.Past: Rene conceals the fact that she has a new boyfriend from Sara and James.
Present: With the state on the verge of separating him from his aunt to place him in an asylum, a mentally disabled man seeks Rene's assistance. When her father comes for a visit, M.E. is forced to confront the reality of Alzheimer's disease.Past: Rene and M.E.'s new high school friends invade Port Dixie.
Present: Taking on big business, Rene represents a group of children diagnosed with lead poisoning. M.E. and Davis spend some quality mother-son time together.Past: M.E. and Rene perform in the school play.
Present: M.E. and Rene find themselves trapped inside Rene's law office with a parolee while a tornado ravages the Sims house. Past: As Sara learns about the "older man" young Rene is dating, Teresa catches chicken pox.
Present: While newly homeless M.E. and Colliar seek their own shelter and comfort, Rene fights for the rights of a homeless woman. Past: The girls confront unwelcome guests who crash their pajama party.
Present: Though Colliar looks ahead to growing old with his wife in the dream house he's busily constructing, M.E. finds the future hangs over her head like a storm cloud; Rene defends Joe in court. Past: Colliar and the girls are disappointed with the results of their aptitude tests.
Present: While Rene contends with two men, her ex-husband who unexpectedly returns to town and Judge "Turk" Terhune, with whom her mother sets her up but with whom she constantly bickers, M.E. and Colliar try to adjust to life in an apartment that leaves a lot to be desired.Past: Rene tries to teach M.E.'s sister, Teresa, how to inject some soul in her dance moves so she can get on a TV dance program.
Present: When Kelly and Ajoni have trouble finding a babysitter, M.E. and Colliar insist they figure out a solution on their own; Rene defends the civil rights of the dead.Past: The girls get their first introduction to the hippie movement.
Present: After she feels chest pains, Rene goes to a cardiologist; M.E. winds up in the cross fire of a school shooting.Past: Colliar feels pressure to stop being friends with Rene.
Present: While Rene and Judge "Turk" Terhune try to get a handle on their relationship, M.E. makes the importance of the Confederate flag the subject of her next column.Past: When the girls hear Lurleen Wallace speak at a school assembly, they discover the world of feminism.
Present: Learning that Kelly and Ajoni have racked up a lot of debt, M.E. and Colliar try to help them out. Succumbing to stress, Rene collpases.Past: M.E. and Rene participate in Robert Kennedy's presidential campaign by trying to raise money.
Present: Rene struggles to maintain control of the law firm even as she recuperates from heart surgery, causing M.E. to worry about her health. Meanwhile, she and Colliar try to come to terms with Davis' decision to attend seminary school out of state.Past: When an old friend of Sara's visit, she and Rene bond over the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Present: M.E. suspects she's gaining weight due to emotional stress and decides to start therapy. When Rene's obnoxious client accuses a female colleague of wrongful termination, the woman countersues for sexual harassment.Past: When she gets involved with the Black Panthers, young Rene winds up in jail.
Present: Returning to work full-time, Rene defends an artist who creates representations of American currency. M.E. attends jury duty and winds up the sole holdout for a not-guilty verdict. Past: The girls struggle to grasp how anyone could love Uncle Jimmy.
Present: When she's chosen to be a witness at an upcoming execution and interviews both the victim's and the convict's mothers, M.E. finds herself at the center of the capital punishment debate. Rene defends a co-ed who was kicked off of her college's volleyball team for stripping.Past: The girls excitedly get ready for their first formal dance.
Present: As the baby's first birthday rolls around, grandmothers M.E. and Gail clash while preparing for the celebration. When a company refuses to pay for employees' birth-control pills, Rene accuses a company of sexual discrimination. Past: When he gets into a fender bender, young Colliar seeks shelter from his abusive father.
Present: As Rene proposes to Turk, M.E. considers taking part in a class-action lawsuit against a comedy club that allowed the telling of a fat joke.Past: M.E. and Rene are stunned by the news that Robert F. Kennedy has been assassinated.
Present: As Rene sues the city on behalf of a group of women who were sexually harassed during a business convention, she meets Turk's sister and reluctantly accepts an ugly family heirloom for an engagement ring. Meanwhile, M.E. tries to help Kelly and Ajoni's reconcile, but the couple separates anyway.Past: At a party in Rene's basement, the girls and their friends are groped by a group of boys.
Present: Upholding freedom of religion, Rene represents Lakeisha's Rastafarian boyfriend who has been fired for refusing to cut his dreadlocks. Also, M.E. finds herself at odds with Rene's wedding planner.Past: M.E. and Rene argue over whether the women's liberation or African-American civil rights movement is more important.
Present: As M.E. and Colliar finally move into their new house, Rene takes on the case of a developer who wants to build a shopping mall over an old slave burial ground.Past: Elston returns from Canada for a visit; Rene participates in a speech contest.
Present: M.E. takes over preparations for Rene's wedding; a sneaky state senator schedules Rene's pro-reparations argument before the state legislature for her wedding day! Past: As Rene contemplates entering the Miss Black America pageant, M.E. considers protesting the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City.