Hannah decides to quit teaching and leave her boyfriend, Jack, and return home to Chicago to become a writer. On the flight home to Chicago, Hannah meets and helps Marty deal with his fear of flying and he tells her about a research job open at Chicago Monthly, the magazine where he is a writer. Hannah goes down the magazine to apply for the job, meets the editor and is challenged to write a 2,000 word article on ""the tortilla wars, does Chicago prefer corn or flour?"" for 9 o'clock the following morning.

Hannah's first deadline prompts her first fight with Marty when she loses his article in the computer and he doesn't have a backup, much to Pamela's delight.

Hannah's old boyfriend and Marty's ex-college roommate are one in the same person, and Jack tries to convince her that he has changed. Meanwhile, Hannah and Marty are working on a story that will expose a charity scam.

Marty doesn't want anyone to know he is living in fear when he receives his first death threat.

Marty is in turmoil when his mother stops by for a visit and Hannah gets him face his relationship with her, so he can get rid of all the angst it generates.

Hannah is down in the dumps and Marty gets dumped, so the two of them go out together, for her birthday and the end of his relationship with Alice- but it's ""not a date"".

Hannah returns from a vacation to find that the magazine has been bought by a corporation and the hip new editor comes in and begins to stir things up, especially Marty who considers resigning. Hannah becomes a writer, the magazine is changed to a weekly format and is renamed The Chicago Weekly and an English book and theater critic is brought into review television.

If he doesn't already feel guilty enough about everything, Marty really feels guilty when his Thailanese foster daughter comes to attend college in Chicago and he is really attracted to her.

An unexpected heat wave puts a damper on a party Hannah tries throwing because she wants to warm up her relationship with Catherine.

Marty and Hannah trade bylines to prove that Catherine is using favoritism in choosing articles for publication, and Marty winds up jail protecting ""his"" source.

Hannah finds out that her mother had her heart donated. She finds the new owner is a depressed man, who is not living his prolonged life to its fullest, the way Hannah envisioned the recipient would.

Hannah sweet-talks Bradley, a fact checker, into letting a libelous quotation into her article, this all leads to a 10 million dollar libel suit and Hannah having to fire him.

Hannah loves Marty's psychiatrist to death and Marty finds it difficult to cope with being shrinkless. Marty has a final session with his shrink casket-side.

Catherine makes everyone take a lie detector test when she suspects someone on the staff is leaking gossip about her to an underground rag.

A trip to the dentist for Marty also includes making a date with Robin and she is more than ready for a relationship and proves it by overreacting to a little kiss.

Hannah insists she's not jealous of Marty's new girlfriend and invites them to dinner to prove it. When his date appears to be choking, Hannah delivers the Heimleich maneuver and breaks a rib, but she's not jealous.

Catherine's decides to become ""ordinary,"" after being snubbed of a mention in pop-culture legend's recently published diaries, and leaves Marty in charge of the magazine. The ""Squaddies"" protest Brian's review of the latest Star Squad movie and storm the newsroom to make Brian come to their convention.

Marty nurses a bruised ego when he sings show tunes on a news talk show and Hannah makes a celebrity out of a woman who was thrown out of a restaurant for nursing her baby.

When the magazine needs a new cover story in less than 20 hours, Hannah & Marty must go to a hotel to write the story. While searching for an angle on the story, Hannah decides the mood may be just right to check out the bed with Marty.

Marty is the unwitting weapon used by an aspiring young journalist against Hannah, after Hannah helped her get a chance to work for the magazine.

When the staff is gearing up for an all-niter to get out their election issue, Hannah gets excited; however Marty is less than enthusiastic, especially when the election is close, the night is long and the candidate he thought was a lock, loses and he has no material.

Hannah and Marty go out to dinner with Robin to help her celebrate her un-anniversary. After seeing Robin's ex-husband there, each has a different perspective on how the restaurant caught fire. Everyone turned their heads when they walked across the room.

Marty's girlfriend plans a surprise birthday party for him, but he surprises her and everyone else by breaking up with her, before everybody yells surprise.

Marty may become editor after a corporate trouble-shooter comes in, evaluates the magazine and decides Catherine is out and he is in, never mind that Marty slept with her. A little corporate blackmail may work wonders to save Catherine's job, using Marty as the tool.

A friend of Marty's, a Hollywood producer, decides to ""do lunch"" with Hannah when he wants to make a movie about one of her stories, something Marty has rejected for a long time.

When Catherine gets the impression that the magazine may have become too high brow, she searches out the everyman's opinion. When she hears Robin's thoughts, she is impressed and takes her on as a consultant and the entire staff becomes on edge.

A woman arrives and threatens to make Brian's life a living hell, by threatening to get back at him for the bad review he gave that caused her husband to die. Hannah meets Marty's ex-fiancee at his family's Seder and sees that the old flame may still be lit.

Hannah's 30th birthday is no party for her when she takes time to reflect on her life and love. Hannah's little voice inside her head tells her that what's missing is Marty.

The development of their romance is put on hold when Patrick Serreau, a world class photographer, comes to Chicago to take pictures for the magazine. Patrick's interest in taking pictures isn't as great as his interest in Hannah.

Patrick thinks that he has a great working chemistry with Hannah when they put together a their story on toxic-waste, so he offers he a chance to work with him in West Africa.

As Hannah prepares to accompany Patrick to the jungle, he and Marty contend with the urban jungle; there Patrick shows his true colors.

After Hannah & Marty complete their relationship they begin to fantasize how everyone at the office will react.

Marty and Hannah have their first relationship-related fight the next day at work when Marty must edit her article and Hannah resents the changes.

Much to Hannah's dismay, Marty must accompany a swimsuit model to the Caribbean for an interview during her latest photo shoot.

Hannah befriends the mistress of a billionaire just to get her exclusive story, but regrets it later when she finds out what she is really like.

Hannah gets called away and Marty is left totally alone to entertain Hannah's 5-year-old niece, Marty's appendix has other ideas.

On Valentine's Day, Marty must find a way to rekindle their relationship when Hannah decides the fire has gone out.

Catherine tries scream therapy as a way to reduce tension. Robin becomes a fifth wheel in her relationship with Hannah and Marty.

A new magazine puts feelers out for Hannah, so Catherine plans to give her a raise to keep her. Consequently, Marty's self-esteem drops because she'll make more than he does.

A home pregnancy test turns up positive. Hannah and Marty make plans to get married in a hurry; however, the doctor's results are a bit different.

Marty exposes a cult and they retaliate by exposing facts about the staff. Marty becomes worried because he has one thing about him and Catherine that he hasn't yet mentioned to Hannah.

A young girl gets to be editor for the day, which sets the tone for Marty and Hannah imagining what love would have been like if they had met at a younger age. They do this while celebrating their 1st anniversary of knowing each other.

Marty must place his mother in a home when her failing memory begins to force the issue.

Hannah makes a joke about the best sex she ever had, Marty sets out to find out the details after he finds out it wasn't him.

Marty's bad day is made worse when Hannah takes him on a train trip but the only thing on his mind is ""Murder on the Wisconsin Express"".

Marty becomes obsessed when he finds out his cholesterol is too high, meanwhile Hannah provides shelter interviews the widow of a deposed monarch and is she a royal pain.

Patrick Serreau returns for the opening of a gallery show featuring his erotic pictures, but he shows no sign of his old lecherous self to a disbelieving Hannah.

Patrick tries to set Marty up with the triplets, who love Jewish men, featured in his exhibition so he can discredit him in the eyes of Hannah and strengthen his own position.

Jules cost cuts on a holiday dinner for the homeless, with sickening results. When Hannah convinces Marty to go all out for Christmas, she gets the idea that he has, by getting a new apartment for them.

Marty, Jules & Mike go to a wild man weekend in which Marty refuses to take part, Jules decides to right Catherine's wrongs and Mike writes a poem.

Robin and the Animal Rescue Front (ARF), a group of animal rights activists, are after Marty when he writes an article they don't agree with. Marty is after them when their pet mink bites him. This is all further complicated by the fact Catherine needs to keep fur ads in the magazine to keep their budget intact.

Catherine seeks cooking advice from Hannah when the husband from her open marriage suddenly shows up, wanting a divorce because he has found a new mate.

The visit of Hannah's friend, Rachel, disturbs Marty who thinks Hannah will unlike the fact that she and Marty once had a one-night stand.

Mike's wife is out of town for a while, so Hannah invites him over for dinner and then he hits it off with Robin and Hannah becomes worried, what if he hits on her?

As Hannah sits in a specialist's office awaiting the results of her biopsy, she reflects on the past week of living with this secret from Marty.

When Catherine won't print one of his stories, Marty quits the magazine and Hannah is left holding Marty's big article on airline safety. Hannah becomes the arbitrator in their dispute.