Josh runs into trouble with an insurance carrier over its refusal to pay $50,000 of his hospital bill; while Sam lends a hand, he suggest Josh sue the Ku Klux Klan, who were indirectly responsible for him getting shot. President Bartlet uses many takes to tape a radio address. Ainsley meets her new boss, Lionel Tribbey (John Larroquette), the White House Counsel, who puts on quite a show. The first lady says the President is well enough for sex, but he faces frustrating delays. C.J. has to deal with a decorated Army general who finds the administration's defense pathetic; she eventually finds out he wears medals he may not have earned and gets him to shut up, but the President later tells her to allow him to speak. Leo shows Ainsley to her basement office. Lionel welcomes her in his own way, and he assigns her first task, which takes her into conflict with two other staff lawyers; Sam deals with the conflict. Sam, Josh, C.J., and Toby help Ainsley with the decor in her office.

The staff participates in "Big Block of Cheese Day," Toby is assigned to speak with a group of unruly anarchists protesting the WTO, C.J. meets with The Organization of Cartographers for Social Equality advocating for an inverted Peters projection, and a friend of Donna asks Sam to consider a pardon request for an alleged Cold War spy.

A crisis in Haiti takes much of the President and Leo's time, while the senior staff are planning the announcement of the President's MS. The democratically elected new Haitian president is facing a military coup and the U.S. finds itself in the middle of the storm when a U.S. diplomat smuggles the new President into the safety of the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince. An evacuation operation turns deadly when U.S. soldiers shoot and kill several rebel Haitians who tried to stop a plane from taking off at the airport. Donna is told by Toby about the President's condition. The staff considers how to deal with the bad news of a poll by Joey Lucas that reveals voters have hugely negative reactions to the possibility of a politician having a potentially fatal disease and covering it up. The President agrees with Leo that he should have a discussion with the staff about whether or not to seek reelection. Josh follows up on his previous week's discovery that a Congressional lawsuit against major tobacco companies is running into funding problems. In a brief conversation with Mrs. Landingham, directly before she goes to collect her first new car, the President says he'd like to have a word with her on her return. It is later revealed that she was killed by a drunk driver.