Season 4, Episode 31: "The day that the rain came down" (original air date: February 14, 2003)

Nicky returns from her tramping holiday to find emergency vehicles on the move - a flash flood has washed out a teacher's college group in the Waipuru Valley. Nicky joins the Search and Rescue effort with Alistair, Helen and Ken. Almost immediately, Helen injures herself out of action. She gets sent to look after Ryan, one of the walking wounded. The troops reach the site of devastation and find one of the party dead and the others in disarray. Several are missing.

Meanwhile, William is readying for the influx at the clinic as Ross arrives to discuss the splitting up of family assets with Louise.

Ken and Wayne encounter a further problem - one of the group is stranded on a cliff ledge. Ross and Nicky are keen to use the chopper, and play heroes, but burnt by past experience, Ken vetoes this. Ross is disappointed to be sent away with only one passenger, Eddy.

Meanwhile, most of the party arrive back at Mercy Peak. Ryan, apparently asleep, is found to be unconscious. When William is angry that no one noticed his obvious head injury, Alistair lies and takes the blame for Helen.

Nicky abseils to the woman on the cliff and finds that Eleanor, an older woman, has a spinal injury. The rescue helicopter will be necessary after all. Despite the circumstances, Nicky finds Eleanor's experiences inspirational, and realises she has become comfortable with her role at Bassett.

Louise begins to worry when she can't contact Ross. Her worries compound when the Other Woman arrives looking for news, Angela - ex-masseuse from Morecross. Angela is at pains to get on with Louise, but this quickly degenerates when Louise finds that, unbeknownst to her, Angela has moved in with Ross. But when Ken reports that the helicopter has crashed, Louise finds herself in the odd position of having to comfort her rival.

William suspects that real culprit for Ryan's misdiagnosis is Helen. He confronts Alistair about his lie, and acts swiftly against Helen. Alistair is angry that Helen has been fired - then surprised to find that she thinks it's good news. She gets paid to do nothing - and plans to stay on.

William is pleased to report his success to Nicky, whom he knows will share his delight in losing Helen.