The main characters in the pilot episode included Dr Louella "Ella" Davis, the moral centre of the firm whose passion lies equally distributed between her work at St Albans Hospital Emergency Ward, and defending doctors; "Happy" Henderson, a lawyer whose nickname can be greatly misleading; Dr Jamie Lawless, an optimistic young doctor whose passion for helping others often leads him to inner conflict; Caitlin King, the new law recruit at MDA whose ambitions far exceed what she can do at the firm; Layla Young of the Bahá'í faith, the friendly receptionist; Dr Tony McKinnon, a doctor who works with Ella at the hospital; and Richard Savage – the cutthroat plaintiff's advocate who often does battles with MDA.

In the opening episodes, Ella faced personal problems when her lover Nick wished to move out of the country, and she often discussed these with her sister Edwina, but those characters quickly faded into the background.

The first episodes did not draw impressive ratings, and the critics were ambivalent, but by the eighth episode – "Bowels, Bosch and the Whole Damn Thing", in which Happy faced health problems – Jamie fell for Wendy Rossi, a doctor facing manslaughter, and Caitlin began to consider working with Richard instead of MDA – the show began to gain attention.

The season opened with the episode "Eternity" in which Tony died on the operating table, and Caitlin moved to Richard Savage's firm.

Caitlin gets off to a bumpy start with the MDA when she becomes involved with Justin Harris (a man secretly under investigation for murder, played by Jeremy Callaghan).

Significant season two storylines included the destruction of Jamie and Wendy's relationship, Dr Phillips' increasing efforts to become head of MDA, and the potential destruction of MDA itself as he attempts to incite a revolution against the firm, Caitlin and Richard's personal and professional fighting, Layla's grandmother getting closer to death, and Happy dealing with his son Jason.

Despite increased audience size, critical response, and award nominations, the ABC made no official announcement of the show's renewal.