A man is brought into the emergency room after a terrifying chandelier accident leaves him impaled with glass. The man is a personal friend of Dr. Rhodes (Colin Donnell), and works at the Rhodes' family Chicago department store. This leads Dr. Rhodes to a bitter confrontation with his estranged father. The father has misgivings about his son performing the necessary surgery and appeals to Goodwin (S. Epatha Merkerson) to have Rhodes taken off the case, but Goodwin won't budge. The surgery goes off without a hitch and the man is saved, though the bitterness between father and son remains.
Dr. Choi (Brian Tee) treats a combat soldier who has recently contracted diabetes. Tests reveal that the diabetes is a result of having been poisoned with prednisone. The soldier's wife is behind this, in a misguided effort to keep her husband home. Dr. Charles (Oliver Platt) confronts the wife, who confesses to her husband. Though authorities later take the woman away, her husband stays by her side.
Dr. Manning (Torrey DeVitto) consoles a professional violinist who needs a life-saving surgery - that will also mean the loss of her hearing. Manning and the patient share a tender moment before the surgery, and the two perform a violin duet. We find out that Manning had pursued a career as a professional musician, but turned to medicine as her "fallback."