A young woman, Lara, drags her semi conscious much older husband, Robert out of a river. He has fallen into shallow water while showing off swinging on a rope. Heath and Bree arrive and while doing initial assessments, Robert loses consciousness. He is brought into the ED with no feeling in his legs. As the reason for Robert's stunt comes to light, and it seems likely that Robert will become a paraplegic, it seems unlikely their marriage will survive...

Steve is arriving for work when a young man, Gary, drives up the back of his precious ute. Gary is slumped unconscious behind the wheel and is rushed into the ED where Gabrielle, Bart and Steve work to find out what has happened to him. His brother, Damo, arrives and when he tries to run off with Gary's bag, a snake is discovered inside. Steve realises it's a non-venomous snake and unlikely to have caused Gary's problems. So, it's a race against time to work out what it is that's causing this young man to deteriorate so quickly...

Alex is brought in after rescuing a woman from abduction. His act was an instinctive one of heroism, but Alex will have none of it, believing himself to be an irredeemably bad person. Charlotte and Zoe work brilliantly together, completing the seemingly menial task of picking out gravel from Alex's legs, whilst at the same time uncovering why he is such a reluctant hero. Zoe and Charlotte's double act makes Frank's life even more difficult as he attempts to come to terms with the impossible dilemma handed down to him by Admin...

Dan attempts to keep his mind on the job as his father's life hangs in the balance in another hospital.

CORE CAST
FRANK CAMPION John Howard
VON RYAN Judith McGrath
CHARLOTTE BEAUMONT Tammy MacIntosh
JACK QUADE Wil Traval
DAN GOLDMAN Mark Priestley
ERICA TEMPLETON Jolene Anderson
ZOE GALLAGHER Allison Cratchley
BART WEST Andrew Supanz
GABRIELLE JAEGER Virginia Gay
STEVE TAYLOR Jack Campbell
MIKE VLASEK John Waters

GUESTS
BREE MATHEWS Celeste Barber
HEATH VELAGA Mike Smith
CONSTABLE IVAN CAMPBELL Liam Smith
ROBERT COBURN Barry Langrishe
LARA COBURN Rhiannon Owen
DAMIAN (DAMO) HUNTER Ari Mattes
ALEX RIORDAN David Franklin