Meanwhile, John Carter (NOAH WYLE) is uncomfortable treating a transvestite (VONDIE CURTIS-HALL), who tries to commit suicide, first by driving into a bridge, then by jumping off the hospital roof. The latter attempt is successful. Devastated by the suicide, Carter reluctantly accepts Dr. Benton's (ERIQ LA SALLE) invitation to join him for Thanksgiving dinner with Benton's family.

Benton, Carter, Dr. Mark Greene (ANTHONY EDWARDS), Dr. Langworthy (TYRA FERRELL) and Nurse Carol Hathaway (JULIANNA MARGULIES) try to save two teenage boys who, while driving recklessly, killed a girl. One boy dies, and the other confesses to Hathaway that he was really the driver, not the dead boy as everyone thinks. She debates whether or not to let the truth be known. Hathaway also considers her feelings for Dr. Taglieri (RICK ROSSOVICH) and Dr. Douglas Ross (GEORGE CLOONEY), who is having an ongoing affair with medical supply saleswoman Linda Farrell (ANDREA PARKER). Finally, Hathaway decides to tell Taglieri the truth about some past romantic encounters she had with Ross while she was seeing Taglieri. Unfortunately, Taglieri would have preferred that she didn't confide this to him.

As Thanksgiving day in the ER continues, Ross tends to an animal rights activist who had to kill a turkey he rescued when the bird began pecking him relentlessly.