The West Wing

President Josiah Bartlet is rushed to the hospital after being shot. Even though Bartlet undergoes surgery, his wound is not life threatening. But Josh sustained a bullet wound to the chest. As the medical staff operates on the critically wounded Josh, he unconsciously remembers how he joined the Bartlet campaign team. Toby and Sam also recall their early days working together for Bartlet.

As doctors continue to perform surgery on his chest, Josh remembers, in a dream, how Toby, Sam, C.J., Donna and he became members of the Bartlet political team under Leo's direction. Meanwhile, the federal, state and local agencies search for the remaining conspirator. They capture the young man and discover that he is a member of a racist hate group.

Leading up to the midterm elections, the staff makes an all-out effort to pick up Democratic seats in Congress. Josh recovers at home. Sam betrays a friend after convincing him to run for office with a promise of support from the Democratic party. The President is obsessed with a school board election in his home state. Since Charlie was the intended target of the shooting, he feels responsible.

Toby and Josh help Bartlet mediate between the leader of an AIDS-ravaged, poverty-stricken African nation and a drug company. After a deal is reached, the leader returns home and is assassinated. On a talk show, Sam is trounced by Ainsley Hayes, an attractive, intelligent Republican political analyst. Bartlet is impressed by Ainsley's passion and sense of civic duty, despite her caustic criticism.

C.J. finds a way to stop a retiring general from attacking the President's position on budget cuts for the military. Lone Republican staffer Ainsley Hayes endures a particularly difficult first day on the job. Sam wants to sue a hate group on Josh's behalf. And Abby informs Bartlet that her schedule and his completed recovery allow for marital activity.

Bartlet considers the extraordinary measure of calling the Senate together during its winter holiday in order to force a vote on a comprehensive nuclear test-ban treaty. A low-level Ukrainian diplomat arrives at the White House--drunk--and refuses to leave without meeting Bartlet. C.J. is disappointed when Danny rejects an opportunity to work outside of the pressroom.

During a flight to Portland, Bartlet deals with three issues: a Sudanese tanker that is transporting oil out of Iraq against sanctions; a bill involving same-sex marriage; and an upcoming speech on education. Charlie creates a novel incentive to encourage people to choose the teaching profession.

As Thanksgiving arrives, Bartlet decides the fate of a container ship full of illegal Chinese immigrants who claim to be Christians seeking asylum from religious persecution. Toby wants Leo's controversial sister appointed to an education post. C.J. must choose a national turkey, and Charlie has his work cut out for him when the President sends him out to find the perfect carving knife.

While the Russian government claims an explosion in its country occurred at an oil refinery, evidence proves it happened at a nuclear facility. Bartlet chides the Russian ambassador for not seeking help. A failed space mission to Mars puts a damper on a speech Bartlet plans to give schoolchildren. Sam avoids his former girlfriend Mallory, Leo's daughter.

At Christmas time, Leo hires a traumatologist to force Josh to confront his unacknowledged stress resulting from when he was shot. Sam deals with an errant energy secretary. Meanwhile, C.J. helps a tourist who becomes agitated. And Charlie must persuade a stubborn Bartlet that the President cannot possibly personally sign more than one million White House Christmas cards.

Bartlet's staff prepares for a Presidential breakfast meeting with Democratic and Republican leaders. The event simply serves as a symbolic show of bipartisanship at the start of the new legislative session, but Toby wants the parties to argue real issues. Trouble ensues when Toby strikes a deal with the chief of staff to the Republican majority leader, and she betrays him.

Leo fails to convince Bartlet of the merits of an expensive but unproven missile defense system. Meanwhile, Leo and the others are irritated by the news that pompous Lord John Marbury (ROGER REES) has been appointed ambassador from Great Britain. Toby clashes with Sam over the President's speech for an environmentalist group. C.J. convinces a controversial comic to refuse a White House invitation.

Bartlet's third State of the Union speech is a major success. Unfortunately, problems immediately occur that diminish the White House staff's enthusiasm. And Bartlet must confront his wife's angry disappointment.

Three hours after learning that drug agents were taken hostage in Colombia, Bartlet gives the order for special forces to rescue them, risking a war. The rescue mission fails and nine operatives are killed. Later, Bartlet sadly approves Leo's plan to have the Colombian government inconspicuously release the drug lord without giving the appearance that the U.S. complied with terrorists' demands.

Comments made by Surgeon General Dr. Courtney Griffith concerning the medical effects of marijuana appear to reverse the President's stance on legalizing the drug. Ellie, Bartlet's middle daughter, compounds the problem by speaking out in favor of Griffith, her godmother. Also, Toby asks his combative ex-wife, Congresswoman Andrea "Andy" Wyatt, for help with an influential labor commission.

Sam finds out that his father was unfaithful to Sam's mother for 28 years. Sam tries to help a friend of Donna's whose dying father wants to see his own deceased father's reputation cleared of committing espionage during WWII. Toby, a veteran of many effective protest marches, dutifully attends a disorderly anti-World Trade Organization rally. C.J. meets with crusading cartographers.

A stubborn Senator delays a vote--and the Senate's vacation--for over nine hours because he wants even more stringent requirements on diagnosing and treating autism added to a child health-care reform bill. When Donna finds out that the Senator's grandchild is afflicted with the disorder, Josh works to add the amendment. And Toby wonders about the vice president's motives.

Toby ponders the mystery of Hoynes' attempt to gain the voters' favor by admonishing the oil companies. Toby forces Leo to admit that Hoynes suspects Bartlet won't attempt a second term. Even more shocking is the reason: Bartlet has multiple sclerosis, a secret only 16 other people know. Josh, Donna, Sam and Ainsley try to write jokes for the President's speech for the Correspondents' Dinner.

Bartlet reluctantly consults the new White House Counsel, Oliver Babish, who is stunned by the legal implications of Bartlet's condition. Bartlet denies ever testifying under oath or signing a legal document indicating that he is fully healthy, but Abbey did. Sam feels guilty about the role he played in an environmental disaster.

After Toby informs C.J. about Bartlet's disease, she endures Babish's questioning and realizes that she might have unwittingly been part of a criminal conspiracy to deceive the public. Babish tries to prepare the staffers for the intense scrutiny they will soon suffer. Josh asks Joey Lucas to gauge how citizens will react. Donna worries about a falling satellite.

After Joey gives Bartlet and his staff devastating polling figures, they debate how to inform the public of Bartlet's multiple sclerosis. Leo orders Josh to escalate the battle against tobacco companies. A military coup in Haiti could lead to war with the U.S. While returning home from the dealership with her brand new car, Mrs. Landingham is killed by a drunk driver.

Josh independently implements a rash plan to coerce wayward Democrats to support the administration's lawsuit against big tobacco companies. The military crisis in Haiti escalates. Bartlet must decide whether to run for reelection. Bartlet reminisces about Mrs. Landingham and attends her funeral. The President and First Lady give a live interview at the White House concerning his illness.