Noelle McCutchen

Meet Meredith Grey, a woman trying to lead a real life while doing a job that makes having a real life impossible. Meredith is a first year surgical intern at Seattle Grace Hospital, the toughest surgical residency program west of Harvard. She and her fellow first-year interns were students yesterday; today they're doctors in a world where on the job training can be a matter of life and death. Such is the world of "Grey's Anatomy," ABC's midseason medical drama about young people struggling to become doctors and doctors struggling to remain human. It's a world filled with intensity, humor, sex and pain, in which the interns discover that neither medicine nor relationships can be defined in black and white -- real life only comes in shades of grey.

Alex gains the trust of Annie, a nervous patient with an extraordinarily large tumor, only to humiliate himself in front of her later. Meanwhile Derek chooses Meredith to assist with an elderly Parkinson's patient who may need surgery -- but Bailey disapproves of their relationship and is determined to make Meredith suffer -- and tensions escalate between Burke and Shepherd.

As Meredith and Cristina discuss their relationship woes at the Emerald City Bar, their session of lamenting is interrupted when Joe, the bartender, collapses. And as Chief Webber recovers from brain surgery, he appoints one surgeon as interim chief - much to the dismay of another surgeon -- and he assigns George to report back with hospital gossip. While a devastated Meredith learns more about Derek and Addison's relationship, a confused Cristina tries to make decisions about her connection with Dr. Burke.

Some very deep secrets are made painfully public when Meredith's mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, is brought to Seattle Grace for a surgical procedure. Meanwhile, some frightening news about Cristina's health is brought out into the open.

As Cristina tries to recover, she proves to be a very difficult patient, and a visit from her mother doesn't improve her demeanor any. And Meredith's mother, Dr. Ellis Grey, has the hospital staff running in circles. Jeremiah, a cystic fibrosis patient, could benefit from Dr. Addison Shepherd's medical knowledge, but her involvement in his surgery could delay her highly anticipated departure from Seattle Grace Hospital, leaving Meredith and Derek's relationship hanging in the balance.