Terence is off trout fishing. Fergus Morton, a friend of Matt's from Uni, shows up at the club. He had to sell his practice in Perth because of debt problems. He's doing research on feral pigs. Matt invites him to stay with him and Lucy. They decide to stay for a few pints before hitting the road. Stewart Innes is in town and consulting at the hospital...he is a renowned orthopedic specialist. Bob's trying to teach Darcy how to drive. She has so much trouble that he gives up in disgust.

Bob finds a cockatoo on the side of the road and brings it to Lucy. Matt isn't home yet so she does her best to look after it until he gets there. Rosemary offers to teach Darcy to drive. Matt and Fergus finally manage to get home, well and truly toasted. Lucy is not happy -- it's been 5 hours when he said it would be 30 minutes and the cockatoo, a banded sulfer-crested, has died of shock. Matt has to do an autopsy on it in the morning. Sometime during the night, Fergus takes the cockatoo out of the fridge. He tells Matt in the morning that he did the autopsy himself, to make up for keeping Matt out, and that the bird died of shock...that's all.

Darcy's driving lesson with Rosemary goes awry when she runs a cyclist off the road trying to avoid a truck whose lane she was in. The cyclist, Hugo Strzelecki, has hurt his knee but is more concerned about his bike. Lucy is suspicious of Fergus. Kate returns from Melbourne. Rosemary brings Hugo to the hospital. He was on his way to pick apples to make money to help finance his cycling training -- his goal is to go to the Tour de France. He says his folks are dead and that he has no family. Harry asks Stewart Innes to consult on Hugo's knee. While Matt and Lucy are at the Club, Fergus steals some ketamine (sp?), an anaesthetic, from Matt's surgery. Lucy suspects him when the drug turns up missing but Matt won't ask him.

Hugo undergoes surgery -- Stewart is a little jumpy and asks Harry to take over the surgery, with Stewart directing him. Fergus owns up to having "borrowed" the ketamine (sp?) but still falls out with Matt. Harry handles the surgery well. Darcy is upset over Hugo. Stewart talks to Harry after the surgery and explains that he has an inherited peroneal muscular atrophy disease called Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease. His operating days are over and the disease is degenerative. Harry thinks he should teach but Stewart wants to go out on top. Matt convinces Fergus to stay. Stewart thinks Harry has talent as a surgeon and has changed his mind and decided to consider accepting a chair position at Newcastle.

Darcy visits Hugo -- he's not very friendly. She agrees to pay to get his bike fixed. Matt and Lucy argue over Fergus. Matt explains that Fergus saved his life when they were at Uni. Unknown to Matt, Fergus is providing the vet support to an exotic bird smuggling operation. Hugo stretches the truth a little while giving his statement to Frank. Darcy calls him a liar. Fergus is off, supposedly doing his feral pig survey. Luke is trying to fix Hugo's bike at the Lodge. The Lodge has gotten run down in recent months and Frank warns him that he'd better clean it up because the seniors have put a bid in for it for their bingos.

Kate raves about the orderlies that the city hospitals have. Rosemary has the nursing staff fill out "Work Practices Survey" forms so that she can make a case for more non-nursing staff. Bob brings a lot of onions to Cookie. He spotted Fergus at the Chapman farm and asks Matt about it. Matt decides to check it out. Hugo tells Rosemary the story of his parents' death in a car accident when he was a baby and how his father had been a Tour de France winner. He doesn't trust Luke to fix his bike properly. Luke asks Darcy to help him fix up the Lodge. They drop the bike off at the hospital much to Rosemary's consternation. Lucy and Kate argue about filling out the forms -- Lucy thinks it gets in the way of her tending to her patients.

Matt sees Fergus's BMW at the Chapman farm. He snoops around a bit. Darcy is collecting junk for the Lodge. Matt finds the barn full of exotic birds and is upset to see Fergus in there as well, drugging the birds for shipment. Fergus says it was the first and last time he did this, he was desperate for money. Fergus asks him to ignore it, to walk out, but Greg Henning, the head smuggler, shows up at the door. Mr. Brown, a rather ample patient, dies at the hospital, as expected. Hugo and Darcy call a truce. Matt tries to flee the barn but is trapped. Fergus gives Matt a double-strength shot to knock him out.

Lucy comes to clean up Mr. Brown. Rather than waiting for help (because she's pregnant and shouldn't be moving heavy objects), she tries to move him herself and he slips to the floor. Bob tells Frank about the people at the Chapman place and decides to stop by on his way. Henning worries about Matt waking up. Fergus fakes giving him a booster shot and tells him to run for it when he gets a chance. Frank arrives, spooking the smugglers. Henning knocks Fergus down and lunges for his gun. Fergus yells for Matt and Matt tackles Henning. Frank finally clues in to what is happening. Everyone is rounded up and arrested.

Matt talks to Fergus about it -- he's very disillusioned in his friend (and it turns out it was Fergus's second time, not first). Lucy has to enlist Kate and Harry to help her get him back up on the bed and they are interrupted by Rosemary. She wants it in writing as proof of their need for orderlies. Luke and Darcy have done a good job on the Lodge, putting up coloured lights and a mobile. They keep blowing fuses, though, because the electrical system is jerry-rigged. Luke refers to himself as her boyfriend and Darcy doesn't correct him. Hugo wants to apply for the orderly job. Lucy feels the baby kick.