Promised Land

Claire and Russell stand vigil at the hospital with baby Grace until they're forced to give up the fight. Grief-stricken they return home to the rest of the family where they struggle to begin the healing process.

Family members hold a vigil outside the school as terrified students, including Claire, Josh and Dinah, are held hostage by a gun-wielding, troubled teen. When the situation is eventually diffused, Russell and the kids have to deal with their emotional scars.

Claire faces a dilemma after landing a substitute teaching job at a school where the principal is an old college friend. Meanwhile, Nathaniel resorts to cheating to get a cub scout badge.

Things are looking up for the Greenes when a relative of Claire's leaves her a 100 acre ranch in South Dakota, but the family soon becomes involved in a dispute over an Indiana burial site.

When the Greenes return to Chicory Creek to get their car fixed, Josh disobeys his father and becomes involved with a wild teenaged girl, who has a drinking problem she won't admit to.

The Greenes befriend a family that seems to mirror their unusual lifestyle of home schooling and travelling around the U.S. but upon closer inspection, Russell realizes that they aren't what they seem and like the nomad lifestlye for a secret reason.

Claire discovers a startling fact about one of her most popular high school students - he's illiterate, and so is his unsupportive father, who wants his son to quit school and learn a trade. Meanwhile, Nathaniel's attempts to win friends backfires.

While travelling through Nevada, the Greenes meet Rick, a widowed father who is gambling his life - and his relationship with his young daughter - away, and the deck seems stacked against those who try to help him kick his habit.

After being violently attacked by an unknown assailant, a shattered Dinah attempts to return to her normal life and befriends a seemingly good-natured doctor at the hospital where she volunteers but soon discovers that the man isn't who he appears to be.

The Greenes come to the aid of a dying Mooster, but unwittingly cause her grief when they sell off her most prized possession and are unable to retrieve it from its new owner.

Claire shares some alarming news with Russell that will impact all members of the family. Meanwhile, Hattie and the kids head out on a search for the lost map that Hattie has embroidered to illustrate the family's many travels.

Still unable to accept responsibility for the fatal car crash, Joe drives off while under the influence of drugs, unaware that his son is hiding in the car. Meanwhile, Russell feels duty-bound to tell the police the truth about Joe's involvement in the accident. The crossover starts on Touched by an Angel S04E01 The Road Home (I).

The social worker who accused the Greenes of child negligence, faces the same charge when her own son runs away from home with Nathaniel, saying he blames her for the death of his twin brother.

Russell's job hauling lumber separates him and Dinah from the rest of the family who then fail to arrive at an appointed meeting site.

With the help of Russell and Claire, a woman forces a young boy to face his anti-semitic acts by telling him about her own family's past. Meanwhile, Josh faces a similar situation when he dates a girl who's Jewish.

The Greenes go to Post Falls, Idaho to place Josh in a special institute for the blind, and visit some old friends from North Carolina, Ned and Eileen Bernhart. Ned sets Russell up with an interview at the company where he works, Post Falls Furniture. Russell seems a shoe-in for a machine room supervisor position. Though Hattie reminds him about his ""directive"" from the angels, Russell finds a way to rationalize the idea of settling down, perhaps buying a house. Russell is thrown for a loop when he realizes he's been passed over for a younger, less qualified applicant. Then Ned gets the news that he's been ""downsized"" out of his job despite a stellar record of job performance for nine years. Russell convinces Ned to consult a lawyer about possible age discrimination. Though inexperienced, Joel Corwin, fresh out of law school, is the right man for the price. Eileen is more concerned about losing the four months severance package Ned's been offered.

While in Washington, Dinah and Hattie get lost in a bad part of town on the way home from the market and stumble across a teenage girl named Allison sleeping on the streets. They bring Allison back to the trailer to learn that she is a runaway who has been separated from her brother Tommy through the bureaucracies of the local children's services agency. Russell and Claire contact an overworked social worker named Linda Paxton to help reunite Allison with her brother. Russell pays a visit to Tommy's last foster parent, Barbara Manning, who informs him that Tommy is dead. Russell and Claire break the new to Allison. Allison convinces Josh to take her to Barbara Manning to find out how Tommy died. Barbara tells Allison that her brother took his life. She tries to fill in some of the missing pieces but is finally at a loss to explain what led Tommy to take his life. Allison runs off and hitches a ride to the rail overpass where Tommy committed suicide.

Excited about their upcoming anniversary and having Claire all to himself, Russell embraces her tightly to dance. This causes Claire to wince and later in the shower she discovers a painful lump in her breast. The following day Claire slips away to a local women's hospital alone. There she becomes fast friends with Rachel, a young woman she meets in the waiting room. Rachel becomes really shaken after learning she must face the mastectomy of her left breast. Everything's changed for her now. She's scared. Angry. Rachel decides to break things off with David, her fiancé. Claire consoles her on their drive home. Once at the trailer park, Claire gently finds the words to tell Russell of her own ordeal. At the hospital with Russell for the first time, Claire's mastectomy proves inconclusive. She must undergo a biopsy. The entire family is told of what Claire is facing. Josh and Dinah are quietly alarmed.

The Greenes are on their way to Cheyenne, Colorado when they stop to help a woman, Ellen Boller whose car has broken down on the road. Hattie becomes concerned when she notices bruises on the woman's young daughter, Sarah. Russell and Claire confront the mother and learn that she's running away from an abusive husband -- who happens to be the town sheriff (Sheriff Boller). While returning the girl's doll, Russell witnesses the abuse through the window, breaks into their house and rescues the woman and her daughter. Sheriff Boller keeps the Greenes under house arrest in their trailer until Russell returns his wife and daughter. Meanwhile, Ellen arranges for her sister-in-law Pauline to get proof of the abuse in the form of a videotape in order to prosecute. Along the way, we learn that Sheriff Boller has a long history of fear and intimidation to his credit. Boller intercepts a note and foils their plans.

While recovering from the fire that destroyed their trailer, the Greenes have a run-in with some scam artists travelling through Chicory Creek. Meanwhile, Hattie is swept off her feet by a mysterious man, and Josh gets a haircut.

The Greenes arrive in Pennsylvania, where as a teacher, Claire is confided in by a teenage girl that she was pregnant but suffered a miscarriage. Claire and Russell emphasize with the teen as they recall a similar loss of their own years earlier.

The Greenes take a detour, courtesy of Dinah's navigation, and wind up in Roswell, New Mexico, at the A-Lee-Inn Cafe, a hangout for UFO-seekers, where they encounter eccentric people who gather every year for an alien-sighting event. Meanwhile, Russell learns the secret of an astronaut's disappearance.

While the Greene family visits Claire's great Aunt Mooster who's celebrating her 100th birthday in Pueblo, Colorado, Russell encourages a man to step forward and take action against his employer for dumping toxic waste at a local landfill site.

In Evanston, Wyoming, Claire encourages a musically-gifted boy to continue playing the guitar, despite the objections of his mother, who doesn't want him to follow the same path that killed his father.