McMurphy and K.C. are kidnapped by the Viet Cong and taken underground into a warren of tunnels, where their captors expect McMurphy to operate on their wounded leader.

McMurphy uses a little guilt and a little blackmail to get a reluctant K.C. to visit a wounded soldier whose face has been badly disfigured. Holly, the new doughnut dolly, challenges the nurses on behalf of the Red Cross Volunteers to compete in a Miss China Beach beauty pageant. Frankie is assigned to the motor pool and runs into Sarge Pepper, who's not very eager to have her there.

Dodger is left with an Amerasian baby that is supposedly his son; McMurphy makes a poor patient when she comes down with dysentery; and Holly badgers everyone into answering the letters sent by seventh-graders from Colorado.

Dr. Richard worries over a craniotomy that has permanently altered a patient's mental capacity; Lila faces an inspection that will determine if she gets a key promotion; Sarge Pepper asks for some advice about courting Lila and K.C. finds herself in a very awkward position when a senior officer goes AWOL on her permanently.

China Beach celebrates a soggy Independence Day with Boonie and Holly trying to keep everyone's spirits up, McMurphy dealing with a love struck private as she tries to sort out her feelings for Dr. Bernard, Lila and the Sarge discussing the future and Beckett and K.C. quarreling over registering the dead to vote.

K.C. avoids dealing with unpleasant memories of her father stirred up by a trunk of his belongings; Dr. Richard faces his ex-wife's remarriage with a ""black wedding""; Beckett ends his relationship with Mai; and McMurphy learns more about Dr. Bernard's life.

Holly is shaken when it appears that Hang is connected to the VC and has been using their friendship to gain information; Frankie is seriously injured by a booby trap; and McMurphy aids Dr. Bernard at a civilian clinic.

Dodger and Hyers square off after a battlefield incident; McMurphy spends an uncomfortable evening with Dr. Bernard's sophisticated civilian friends; and Boonie gets a surprise from the sexy Asian singer all the men in camp are longing for.

Beckett and a civilian photographer temporarily join Dodger's patrol; McMurphy gets to know a wounded POW.

The wounded Cambodian POW befriended by McMurphy is taken away by the South Vietnamese for interrogation as the photographer Cat pursues the story of his defection and a new commander arrives to take over the base, leaving Lila and K.C. unsure of their positions.

McMurphy finds herself caught up in a triangle affair with Dr. Bernard and Vinnie; Holly tells Boonie how she feels about him; and Lila copes with the disappointment of losing command of China Beach to Otis.

K.C. feels responsible for the death of a Vietnamese prostitute she sent out and takes things into her own hands when Otis refuses to investigate the matter.

Dodger reaches the limit of his endurance and decides to leave Vietnam and faces a mountain of paperwork as he tries to get permission to take his Amerasian son home with him.

Holly has had an abortion and as her friends at China Beach try to deal with it, the circumstances that led up to it are gradually revealed.

China Beach reacts to the rumors of peace floated by Beckett and Frankie during their pirate radio broadcast.

McMurphy is in an emotional and ethical turmoil when she delivers Vinnie's buddy from death but he falls into a terminal coma; and Frankie finds herself in charge of a squad of grizzled grunts.

Dodger tries to reintegrate his life as a civilian but finds himself drifting as he tries to make sense of his experiences in Vietnam.

A pair of ballroom dancers bring a note of grace and harmony to the uneasy relationship between McMurphy and Dr. Richard while completing a mysterious mission of their own.

K.C. finds herself in the middle of a C.I.A. assassination plot, and dependent on McMurphy to vouch for her innocence.

In November 1966, fairly new guys Colleen McMurphy and Dr. Richard find themselves learning the ropes when they arrive at China Beach.

McMurphy finds herself under suspicion when a wounded G.I. she doesn't remember names her as his beneficiary. Lila has mixed feelings about an old friend who now outranks her and has arrived at China Beach to do a recruiting film about Army nurses.

With everyone else away for a distant USO show, K.C. and McMurphy indulge in an alcoholic binge that takes them to a dreamy landscape where a Native American guide tries to help them heal past and present wounds.

In 1985, a reunion between Boonie and Dr. Richard stirs up memories of their first meeting in Vietnam in 1966. It also brings up questions for Boonie's 18-year-old adopted daughter, Karen.

Still in 1985, Karen learns how her natural mother, KC, coped with her pregnancy by turning to Boonie for help.

In Saigon in 1967, KC gives birth with McMurphy's help and gives the baby over to a foster mother.

While attending his father's funeral in 1985, Beckett reflects on his childhood and his tour of duty in Vietnam with the Graves Registration Unit.

In 1970, McMurphy returns home to Lawrence, Kansas to make peace with her mother and try to settle down into civilian life, but finds both goals beyond her grasp.

In 1972, Dr. Richard and his nurse take a romantic trip to Florida, where they run across a hard-livng McMurphy working at an orange-juice factory.

In 1969, China Beach watches from afar as the first men land on the moon. McMurphy simmers jealously as Dr. Richard falls for a new nurse. Beckett entertains a group of USO singers in his G.R.U. hut. A disturbed Boonie meets with a tragic accident.

Suddenly back home and missing one leg, Boonie begins a slow and painful re-entry into civilian life with the comfort of a loving nurse.

Frankie returns to Chicago in 1969 to try her hand at being a standup comic but runs into the tragically funny trial of the infamous Chicago Seven. Back in Vietnam, McMurphy tries to help Dodger convince some Montagnard tribes people to evacuate their homes.

McMurphy meets a sympathetic drummer at a 1983 wedding and recalls the 1969 wedding of Lila and Sarge Pepper, as well as the end of her relationship with Dr. Richard.

The imminent fall of Saigon reunites KC with her daughter as she struggles to get the little girl out of Vietnam and safely to America and a waiting Boonie. In the 1980s, a cynical McMurphy tries to prevent further child abuse in New Mexico.

The arrival in Bangkok in 1969 of a hard-drinking McMurphy and a young private disrupts KC's carefully developed new life and brings back unwanted memories.

In 1976, McMurphy helps KC re-enter the country and find her daughter before heading out to Montana to visit Dodger, who's coping with a disabled father and raising his son Archie alone.

In 1985, Karen begins a videotape project interviewing China Beach veterans about their experiences in Vietnam and their memories of her natural mother.

In 1985, an increasingly angry Colleen torments herself and her husband until she discovers she's suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome and seeks help to deal with the memories of her final weeks in Vietnam.

McMurphy agrees to attend a China Beach reunion planned by Boonie and recalls her last day in Vietnam, and travels to Washington DC with the others to visit the Vietnam Memorial. Karen comes to terms with the ghost of her absent mother, KC.

McMurphy agrees to attend a China Beach reunion planned by Boonie and recalls her last day in Vietnam, and travels to Washington DC with the others to visit the Vietnam Memorial. Karen comes to terms with the ghost of her absent mother, KC.