Plot summary
Sam finds his estranged sister, Corinne, in jail, heavily medicated and near-catatonic, and brings her to Sheldon for help, while Sam, Addison, and Pete work on a baby who has a mother who has a drug problem. Erica begins secret chemotherapy treatments, forcing Charlotte and Cooper to keep Mason in the dark. Amelia begins more research on Erica's case and finds a lead, and realizes that Derek is the person to help them; Charlotte tries to talk Erica into telling Mason about her gliosarcoma, after he runs off and demands that Charlotte bring him to Erica.
Violet gets pissed when Cooper begins defending Pete on her relationship with Scott; While Addison has sex with Sam. Sam and Sheldon try to find out what is really wrong with Corrine, and Sheldon finds that she might not have all of the problems that the prison doctors said she has. Addison and Jake find it hard to talk to each other after he rejected sex with her; Erica, Amelia, Charlotte, Mason, and Cooper head to Seattle in a last effort to give her more time with Mason.
Credits
Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Private Practice season 5. HTML formatting and reference markers removed.