A wealthy attorney decides to become a teacher at the school—quickly stirring things up between her fellow teachers and the students. Meanwhile, Lipshultz gets into trouble after giving a student the wrong name and Marla is enlisted to sponsor a club of female students, which causes her to examine her own insecurity.

Ronnie's career at Winslow High gets off to a precarious start when Guber sees her in a compromising position. Meanwhile, Lauren tries to help a straight-A student get into Princeton, but Harper wants to transfer the student to a continuation school because she is pregnant. Also Mrs. Peters, looking very different, volunteers as a teacher's assistant at Winslow.

Tidings of comfort and joy gladden this Christmas episode, which, true to the series, also has its share of heartaches and crises. The main storyline centers on the holiday hopes of principal Harper's teenage daughter, Brooke, who's anxious for a reconciliation between her divorced mom and dad. In other developments, Guber and Mrs. Peters shop together for a special Christmas present; Marylin, Marla and Louisa form a musical trio at the school pageant; and Senate gets caught up in the plight of a sensitive youth who he thinks may be suicidal.

A revelation concerning Jeremy fractures the relationship between his mother and Guber; a plea from a death-row inmate troubles Harper; a student's ADD affliction disquiets Ronnie.

Ronnie catches a student performing a crime; two female students tell Marylin about their sexual conversations online with an older man.