The first shift for new surgical interns Meredith, Cristina, Izzie, George, and Alex proves eventful and backbreaking.

A rape victim is admitted, who managed to hold onto part of her attacker; Izzie has difficulty with a patient who cannot speak English; Meredith becomes concerned about a sick baby.

Izzie and Cristina are assigned a close-to-brain-dead John Doe who may be a viable candidate for organ donation, and helpful to George's patient, who needs a new liver. Meanwhile, Meredith and Alex butt heads over a patient of their own.

Alex uses Izzie's modeling against her, and her last ad causes a patient to reject her care. Meredith finds parallels between a patient and her mother, and Christina must deal with a hospital-savvy patient.

Meredith worries she did something wrong during a heart bypass, an error in a past procedure is discovered, putting a staff member's conduct under scrutiny, while a party thrown by Izzie to introduce her boyfriend becomes a fiasco.

A woman with a massive tumor is admitted, with all the surgeons required to scrub in. In their absence, Meredith is assigned a patient with Parkinson's and, because Alex's pager is not working, Izzie is left in charge of the floor herself.

Izzie and George find out about Meredith and Derek, while Cristina makes a discovery of her own. George thinks an anesthesiologist is drinking on the job, and Meredith deals with a young girl who has had illegal surgery.

Meredith wants to learn more about Derek, but he remains cagey. Meanwhile, a supposedly psychic patient proves bothersome, Alex must convince a young girl to agree to a life saving operation, and Cristina is conflicted about her pregnancy.

George finally gets laid but gets syphilis. It's rampant among staff. Surgeon Webber is losing his sight. He wants Shepherd to operate secretly. A male patient has an ovary. A lifesaving autopsy's performed without consent.