Amy Madison Gray struggles to adjust to the new circumstances in her life as she separates from her husband and becomes a single mother to her young daughter, Lauren; moves from Manhattan to Hartford, CT to live with her opinionated mother Maxine, a retired social worker; and starts a new career as a superior court judge in family court. The first case on her docket, the placement of a child abandoned by a drug addicted mother, introduces her to the shortcomings and political realities of the juvenile justice system.

A woman fights for custody of her son after the boy's father claims that her practice of the Wiccan religion makes her an unfit mother; Vincent gets an agent; in the week before Halloween, Lauren gets spooked by some older boys; Amy confronts narrow-minded attitudes at the P.T.A. meeting; in direct defiance of Susie's orders, Maxine pursues the search for a boy missing from a family with a history of child abuse.

Amy finds herself in the middle of a love triangle when she considers giving Tom Gillette a second chance while she continues to date Rob; Maxine investigates the case of a boy from a seemingly perfect family who is going deaf; Amy tries to adopt a dog.

Although Amy tries to make the best of it, she and Lauren are still miserable in their small apartment; unable to avoid running into Jared and his date at the diner while looking and feeling her worst, Maxine gives him the cold shoulder, but Jared remains undeterred in his affection for her and finally gets her to accept an engagement ring; Michael sues for full legal custody of Lauren; just as Amy is prepared to ask her mother if she can move back in, she discovers that Maxine has puts her house up for sale; Bruce pleads no contest on his assault charge and receives a suspended sentence; Amy hears a case of a woman who locked her children in the trunk of her car because she had no one to care for them while she was at work; Maxine ends her medical leave after her dentist asks her to investigate the possible abuse of a teenaged patient; Bruce is fired and the dreaded Ian Jankowski is promoted to C.S.O. and assigned to Amy's courtroom.