Ready to make a permanent commitment, Turk buys Carla an engagement ring. He invites her over for dinner, putting the ring in a glass of champagne. But their moment is interrupted when her mother calls to say that Carla’s Aunt Marie has died. Instead of toasting their engagement, she pours the champagne down the drain and the ring along with it.

Things go from bad to worse. Turk pays a visit to his patient Ralphie, four or five years old. Ralphie loves putting anything but food into his mouth. Turk sets the ring down on his tray when Ralphie picks it up and puts it into his mouth and swallows it. Turk tries to load Ralphie up on bran muffins, but that tactic doesn’t work in time for the dinner he’ll have with Carla later that night. He finally pops the question just as she is about to leave for Chicago for her aunt’s funeral. Stunned, she tells him that she needs time to think.

Meanwhile, J.D. and Dr. Cox’s patient, Mrs. Larkin, has a heart defect that ruptures, causing them to deliver her baby much earlier than planned. Another patient, Elaine, has been waiting a long time for a heart transplant. Unfortunately, her wait ends with a flat line on her heart monitor.

Elliot, tired of having to change in a co-ed dressing room, demands a room of her own. Dr. Kelso says no at first, but Elliot persists. She gets the other nurses to stage a protest by wearing their street clothes on the job by claiming that they don’t have a place to change. Her plan works. Instead of enlarging his office like he hoped, Dr. Kelso has to use a newly vacated office as the ladies locker room.