In Which Sam Receives an Unexpected Visitor

In Which Sam Receives an Unexpected Visitor is the second episode of the first season and the 2nd overall episode of Private Practice.

Short Summary
Two couples are involved in an unfortunate baby switch and the doctors must handle and solve it. Sam treats a client that may upset Naomi. A grandmother goes to extreme lengths to stop her son killing himself with alcohol, but her plan backfires.

Full Summary
Violet, Copper, and Pete are all at Addison's place, trying to surprise Sam. Addison is upset because she has plans with Naomi, who is on her way. Cooper, Violet, and Pete watch Sam through a window, waiting for a woman named Ginger who is supposed to be there soon.

She rings the doorbell. Sam answers and she walks in. Addison claims that Sam isn't like Cooper and won't enjoy it, but then Sam is shown through the window, concentrating on Ginger's backside.

Naomi arrives, turning on the light and surprising them. She is upset with them for getting Sam a stripper.

Sam looks closer at the stripper and it turns out that he was noticing a mark she had, not her backside itself.

The next morning at the practice, Sam confronts Cooper, who is curious about what the stripper did. The other doctors enter and they begin to discuss that day's patients. Sam's patient's wife left him, so he's planning to make a house call. Pete informs Addison that they all do house calls.

Cooper's patient is a 9 month old who has been sick since birth.

Sam starts to talk about another patient, but Naomi cuts him off and leaves.

Cooper feigns talking about another patient, but as soon as Naomi's gone, he starts to ask Sam about the stripper again.

Addison is calling for her patient and Pete wonders if she's mad at him.

Violet asks Dell about her next patient and he says that a man there wants to talk to her, but he's not a patient. He's there delivering a bike.

Cooper is seeing his patient, Emily. Her mother is holding her and her father is across the room, disinterested. Cooper asks if she's been sleeping. Her mother says yes, but her father disagrees. Cooper reminds them that he warned them that she'd have a long haul. He needs to run more tests on her.

Sam finds Naomi in his office. Naomi asks about the stripper, specifically if he slept with her. He says he did and she gets upset, but then he says he was lying. He grabs his bag and leaves.

Sam arrives at his patient's house for the house call. He rings the bell repeatedly, but gets no answer, so he goes around to the side of the house and sees his patient, Dave, on the floor. He tries to get the patient's mother to open the door, but he ultimately has to break a window to get in. He asks his patient's son, Stevie, about it and he doesn't know what's wrong or how long he's been like that. Sam calls an ambulance.

When he's being loaded into the ambulance, Sam asks Dave what happened. Stevie is worried. Sam doesn't want to leave him alone with his grandmother, so he asks the EMTs to take them along to the hospital.

Addison and Naomi talk about Sam and the stripper.

Violet brings in the bike. It turns out she ordered it for her ex, Allan, and it was custom-made and cost $6,000. She's trying to figure out what to do with it. Naomi suggests she sell it or give it away, but insists that she not give it to Allan.

Dell is trying to get Naomi to speak at his midwifery class. Despite pressure from Addison, Naomi declines, saying she's busy. Addison offers to speak in her stead, but he says they have enough OBs. She says that's not what she is, but he's not interested.

Cooper comes for a consult with Addison. Addison has to tell Emily's parents that she had Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease. The father asks how it's cured and Cooper has to tell them that there's no cure, but there are treatments. Addison further informs them that the treatments may give her five years, but not much more. The mother asks if, since it's genetic, her sister, who is trying to get pregnant, might have it, too. Addison says they'll run tests, which will be important not only for her sister, but for them, too, if they decide they want more kids, but her mother is insistent that Emily is all they need.

Sam checks on his patient at the hospital, but finds that he has left on orders of Dr. Charlotte King. He argues with Charlotte over her discharging his patient without discussing it with him. She insists that Grandma said she could handle it.

Cooper and Naomi are checking the results of the genetic testing, but they can't read them. Addison looks and says they didn't pass the mutation to her because they aren't her biological parents.

Naomi is explaining how this might have happened in the hospital. Addison suggests that someone may have switched the babies on purpose. Cooper tells them not to worry about anything but taking care of Emily.

Emily was born at St. Ambrose, which means they have to talk to Charlotte about figuring out the switch.

Charlotte insists that there have been no stolen babies, so they figure out that the babies were switched instead. They want the records of all the babies in the nursery from that time. Charlotte says there was only one other African-American girl in the nursery at the time. When Addison questions who it was, Charlotte says she has to talk to the attorneys first.

Sam is checking out his patient. He says they need to clean the kitchen top to bottom. The grandmother insists it wasn't the food. Stevie enters and Sam questions his behavior. Dave says it's fine.

Sam talks to Pete and Cooper about the patient. Ginger comes into the practice and approaches them. Addison, Naomi, and Violet watch in horror through the window as Ginger hugs Sam. Addison tells them to remain calm and not jump to conclusions. And then they see her shake hands and go back to Pete's office with him. They deduce that she's there to see him as a patient.

Charlotte enters and wants to speak to them. She says she talked to the attorneys and some days, she hates the Hippocratic Oath as it requires her to give them the other baby's file. They read the name in shock. The parents of the baby were patients of Naomi and she helped them conceive.

The parents bring the baby into the practice where Naomi says she needs to run blood tests. Addison and Charlotte talk about it and Charlotte says all the nurses checked out, except one who moved, but who had an impeccable record. Addison says that something happened in the nursery, but Charlotte says she's too quick to place blame.

Cooper is playing with a baby and Sam and Pete watch through the glass as they discuss how that guy could possibly be the same guy who hired Sam a stripper.

Violet is talking to Emily's social parents about the switch. They ask what happens and she says that under California law, they have to say goodbye and switch the girls back. The mother is upset about it, saying she would know it and couldn't love another baby.

Cooper is worried about Emily, because she's already had numerous health issues and now she'll have to adjust to new parents. Violet says she's young and she'll be fine, but the parents might not be so fine. He points out that the father, Greg, isn't upset at all. She says he's too attached, but he says she's the one who has attachment problems and they talk about Allan.

She explains that on their third anniversary, he took her to the town in Italy where those bikes are made. He said he's always wanted one, even as a child. He had saved up the money, but then he parents split, so he had to use the money to use the money to pay rent and keep his mom afloat. Cooper decides he no longer wants the bike after hearing that.

Addison asks Pete if Ginger is still in his office. He says she is, because they're still working on treatment. Addison is worried about how this will affect Naomi. They argue over it. Pete asks Addison if she wants him to kiss her again. She says she doesn't and they part ways.

Charlotte comes back with files containing the nurses' schedules, the perinatal testing, and personnel files. She says she didn't find anything and challenges Addison to prove that someone at her hospital did something wrong.

Stevie is brought into the practice by his grandmother. He is hunched over in pain and heaving.

Stevie is recounting what happened and says his grandma made him a sandwich. Sam says he warned her about that kitchen, but she said it was fine. Dave is at work because the grandmother didn't want to worry him with this. Sam says she understands that he means well, but she's making them sick. She says it doesn't concern them.

Sam has [[Dell Parker|Dell] run blood to the lab and tells him to have them check for ingestible poisons, thinking the grandmother might have poisoned her son and grandson.

Naomi has the results and the babies were, in fact, switched. Addison wonders how you tell people about this.

Beth O'Brien is hugging Emily and crying while Greg O'Brien looks on. Cooper walks out and says that that was the hardest thing he's ever done. Violet insists he did everything right, but he's still worried about the father being so disconnected.

Duncan Stinson is yelling at Naomi about the switch and how now they're going to have a sick baby they don't know. He recounts how hard it was to get them pregnant. He says that they lost everything and she promise a healthy child. She says she didn't, but he wants his money back.

Violet is talking to Melinda Stinson about how her husband has a right to be angry. She is cradling Sarah. And Violet is telling her that Emily is her child and she needs to step up and take care of Emily because that's what a mother does.

Stevie's lab results are in. He ingested Coprine. Pete says it's like antabuse. When you drink alcohol, you get sick. Dell asks if someone is poisoning him.

Addison says they think they know when the switch happens. It was on day two. The nurse has been cleared, so they still don't know how it happened.

Sam comes in and tells them that his patient is being poisoned by his mother. Addison says they're dealing with a baby switch. Charlotte asks Sam about the patient and that's when Sam first notices she's in there and her realizes that she needs to unhear that because she's not a member of the practice. He is wondering what to do because he can't let her keep poisoning him, but she is trying to help him. Naomi questions how a parent could do that to her child and Addison figures out how the babies got switched.

Sam tells Mrs. Walker that she has to stop poisoning her son and she says she won't because she needs him to stop drinking. She says she didn't know Stevie was drinking. She thinks it'll work and that what Sam is doing isn't working.

Addison is talking to the Stinsons about Emily, their biological child. Because she had a C-section, Mrs. Stinson wasn't aware of Emily's neurological problems, but Mr. Stinson was. And when she was two days old, she seized and he took the opportunity to switch her with Sarah. He says he did it because they invested so much into this. The cops enter to arrest Mr. Stinson. Melinda Stinson questions how he could give her baby away to someone else.

Cooper is asking Violet how Duncan Stinson could have done something like that. But Violet figures out that he's upset with himself because he couldn't help Emily.

Sam confronts Dave about his alcoholism. He denies it and won't accept treatment. Sam lies to him and says that he's been getting sick because he's allergic to alcohol. Dave says it's impossible. But Sam says it's not and says it's probably genetic, so Dave and Stevie must stop drinking because they'll continue to get sick.

Violet is messing with the bike when Melinda Stinson comes in with Sarah. Violet says it might help to talk about it. When she calls Duncan Melinda's husband, Melinda corrects that he's not her husband anymore and she asks about Emily and if she's so sick that she could die. Violet says that yes, she'll die before she's five years old.

Melinda hands Sarah over to Beth and Violet hands Emily to Melinda. Emily cries and Beth stands up and says that this was a mistake. Violet says it's natural to feel like a stranger at first, but things will get better. Melinda notes that Emily is small, but beautiful. She tells Beth that Sarah likes to be sung to sleep. She sang Madonna songs because she knew all the words to them. Beth replies that Emily screams every two hours, but if she's put on a chest, the sound of the heartbeat will calm her. Beth says she can't, but Melinda says she has to because Sarah is hers and a mother never leaves her baby behind. Beth finally looks down at Sarah and says hi. Greg is crying as he faces the wall. Cooper comes up and he tells Cooper that he was afraid he couldn't watch Emily die, but now he's struggling with letting her go.

Charlotte cries as she and Addison watch from another room. Charlotte brushes away her tears and says she's fine.

Violet looks at the bike through her office window.

Pete enters Addison's office and says he's a wreck and had a long day. Addison says that they sent a father to jail today for trying to get rid of his own kid, but his day sounds long, too. Pete says he didn't know. She says of course he didn't because he was dealing with the stripper all day. Pete says he likes his women real. He says show him a real woman and he's interested. He says he thinks it's great that she tries to take care of Naomi, but questions who is taking care of her.

Sam comes into his office to find Naomi there again and she says that Ginger can't be "her." He asks her to clarify. She says that the first woman he dates after her can't be Ginger. He says she doesn't get input on the women he dates. Naomi says she's a catch and questions that, if Ginger is what Sam wants, what was he doing with Naomi? He replies that the next woman he dates will be beautiful and intelligent and rash free. Naomi asks if she'll be better than Naomi. He says that she will.

Cooper comes to Violet's door with alcohol. She's taking the bike apart and needs to borrow tools because she can't do it. She says banging on the bike is therapeutic, but then amends that she's full of crap. She says she went over to Allan's with the bike, but he'd already gotten one from his new wife, because he told her the bike story. She starts to cry and say she's an idiot. Cooper says she's just honest and that's her fatal flaw, but his favorite thing about her. They hug and she asks if he'll help run the bike over with his car. He says he will.

Naomi picks on Sam, whom she can see through the window from the beach, where she's sitting with Addison. Addison says they can go up and say hi or they can just continue to look at him. Naomi says she just wants to look, so they do.

Main Cast

 * Kate Walsh as Addison Montgomery
 * Tim Daly as Peter Wilder
 * Audra McDonald as Naomi Bennett
 * Paul Adelstein as Cooper Freedman
 * KaDee Strickland as Charlotte King
 * Chris Lowell as Dell Parker
 * Taye Diggs as Sam Bennett
 * Amy Brenneman as Violet Turner

Guest Stars

 * Dorian Harewood as Duncan Stinson
 * Sean O'Bryan as Dave Walker
 * Barbara Eve Harris as Melinda Stinson
 * Jean Sincere as Gloria Walker
 * Susan Kelechi Watson as Beth

Co-Starring

 * Elimu Nelson as Greg O'Brien
 * Trace McCall as Ginger
 * Drew Osborne as Stevie Walker
 * Elizabeth Pan as ER Nurse
 * Paull Walia as Delivery Guy

Uncredited

 * Shavon Kirksey as Maya Bennett

Notes and Trivia

 * This episode scored 12.30 million viewers.
 * This episode marks the second person from Prison Break to be on the show. Paul Adelstein who plays Cooper, and Barbara Eve Harris, who played the woman whose husband switched their baby were both on Prison Break.
 * This is the first episode the title of which is "In Which ..." someone other than Addison.
 * Naomi does the crossword in pen.

Quotes

 * Sam: You have something.
 * Ginger: Thanks. You're sweet too.
 * Sam: No, you got something right here.
 * Ginger: Huh?


 * Violet: Cooper, how do you even know how to find a stripper?
 * Cooper: Ginger is not a stripper. She's an entertainer.
 * Violet: What does that even mean?
 * Cooper: I'm trying to figure it out.


 * Addison: What kind of surprise is this?
 * Cooper: One named Ginger.
 * Addison & Violet: What?