Plot

Masters and Johnson feel ready to cure sexual dysfunction.

After watching an early cut of the documentary, Masters is disturbed by the portrayal of his work. Johnson's move to solidify her custody arrangement with George backfires. Finding justification in Masters' distraction, Libby continues her relationship with Robert. Langham discovers Flo's family's wealth and connections, causing him to re-evaluate his relationship with her. And after repeated testing of their protocol to cure impotence, Masters and Johnson feel they are ready to cure sexual dysfunction.—Anonymous

The TV studio's 'cleaned-up' version of Masters's team's presentation of his sexual research shocks him as the prudish 'self-'censorship barely leaves anything actually mentioned, as if it were a lifestyle show, but Virginia feels it's still their best shot given a rivaling author's upcoming publication. Diet pills firm boss Flo's rick family makes her somewhat desirable for sexually abused Dr. Austin Langham. To Willam's growing concern, Libby ventures further in the entangling racial tension. After considerable progress in his own reproductive dysfunction, William discusses with Virginia actually offering their findings as treatment to patients. Virginia's ex Goerge wants and major rule in their children's upbringing for him and his present wife, who is the main objection for Virginia.—KGF Vissers

Masters and Johnson develop a new protocol for curing psychosomatic impotence by touching non-sexually for a week, touching sexually for a week, then having a week of the real thing. Dr. Masters is cured.

Dr. Masters has a daydream about being given a ticker tape parade for his work and rides in a car with a woman who looks like Jackie Kennedy, not Virginia Johnson. At the end of the parade, he sees Libby standing before him sadly.

At home, Libby examines herself naked in the mirror and remembers her love making with Robert. Bill Masters notices that she is absent minded. Libby goes back to volunteering with CORE. Dr. Masters watches her wondering what she's up to.

Virginia and her ex-husband meet at a parent-teacher conference. In the hallway, George broaches the idea of having the kids spend more time with him. He has a settled job. She firmly resists. He says Virginia isn't the best parent, but George claims that Audrey is a better parent than both of them. She won't hear of it.

Virginia goes to see her lawyer. She confesses that she never got a signature on their custody agreement and is in a precarious position because George has remarried. Her lawyer agrees to get the agreement signed.

Masters and Johnson, their publicist and Lester review the film CBS made. Dr. Masters is bothered by the fact that they took out many of his words like 'sexes' and 'sexual' and replaces them with other words to clean up the talk. They find out that their rival at UCLA is about to publish a book in 2 months. Their publicist says not to worry, they will get their film out their first.

Libby shows up at the CORE offices and greets Robert like nothing has happened. He asks her to address and stamp some envelopes.

Masters and Johnson argue about the sanitization of their CBS film. Dr Masters is worried about the implication that they can fix sexual dysfunction when he is the only one who has been cured. However, they do feel they have a radical new cure for impotence but it will take time and testing. Virginia is worried about being cut out of national attention by the doctor at UCLA and urges Bill to go ahead with the CBS film.

Virginia's lawyer comes to see her and says George won't sign the original child custody agreement and that he has retained a lawyer of his own.

Barbara and Lester go to see a Doris Day film. Lester hates it and Barbara enjoys it. Lester shares that he is upset because they can't make love. Barbara says they could do a lot of other things. Barbara suggests that they just sleep together, but just sleep.

Flo and Austin discuss John and Jackie Kennedy whom they both like. Flo tells him that she is going to the inauguration. Flo says that her family has good seats because her brother has a job in the administration. She reveals that her father has a lot of political influence and is also the owner of Packer Hardware, a big chain of hardware stores. She is going to a big Democratic shindig tomorrow night to celebrate. Austin is amazed and impressed.

Dr. Masters does some background research on his rival at UCLA. Virginia meets her ex, George, at a restaurant to discuss custody matters. He wants to take their custody battle to court. He hears from the kids that she keeps very late hours and comes and goes. George's lawyer says that in order for him to get custody, they have to prove that she is an unfit mother. George intends to bring up her work watching people fornicate in court and implies that she is having an affair with her boss since she comes home at midnight two nights a week. Virginia gets very upset and throws wine in his face.

Lester and Barbara are at his place. He gives her pajamas and says she can change in the bathroom. She leaves the door open. He changes into pajamas and they get in the bed. They hold hands and say good night.

Libby goes to visit Robert at his place at 2:00 in the morning. Coral is not home; she went to Atlanta and stayed there. Robert is sorry about that night at Libby's house. He feels that it was very dangerous for their work at CORE but he wanted to do something dangerous. She challenges him and they both strip off their clothes and get busy.

Hugh Hefner calls for Dr. Masters. He puts him off. Dr. Masters wants to test his impotence protocol on Lester. Lester is hesitant, he says he has a girlfriend and they are happy without sex. Dr. Masters presses Lester that he needs sex to live, it's like eating and breathing. He will soon want it again. He wants Lester to consider a new way and forget about the past failed experiments he did on him and on Barbara.

At the office, Dr. Langham inveigles an invitation to the party Flo is going to with her family. He confesses to having some political ambition. She says OK, but warns him that her family is very intellectually challenging and that she has to read the NY Times cover to cover for a week before she can converse with them. He resents the fact that she implies that he is dumb, that she runs him around at her bidding, but doesn't want him to meet her family. She says her family will think that he's "so, so blond."

At the park, Virginia confesses to Libby that George is trying to take her kids away and that she is going to have to quit her work to keep them. Libby points out that a judge would think that she quit just for that reason and that she has years of work behind her that she can't erase. Libby confesses that she adores her children but feels like there is much missing from her life and hopes that they are not all that her life will be for.

Dr Masters gets a copy of his rival's book to read. Betty questions him about the secret-delivery book. He tells her about it -- It's thin, conversational, written for the average person, no scientific notation or information. He thinks they can leave his rival in the dust with all their scientific evidence. He goes to see Virginia about the book and she confesses that she has sent her lawyer, their tenant, Herb Spleeb to make an offer to George to hand over her children to keep her "unfitness" out of court. She has convinced herself that it is only "temporary" and that she will get them back after their CBS film is broadcast and shows that their work and her part in it is legitimate and respectable. Bill tries to stop her, but she says it's already done.

Virginia is at breakfast with her children and she suggests to them that they are going to try a new arrangement where she flip-flops her custody time with their father and sees them only on Wednesdays and every other weekend. The kids take it in stride and seem happy with the idea. They remind her that they are going to be late and she is still in her bathrobe. It makes her cry.

The rival UCLA doctor, Dr. Kaufmann, gets a film aired on another network along with his partner, a former co-worker of Master and Johnson, Dr Ethan Haas. They are crushed. Their publicist is very apologetic and claims he doesn't know how this could have happened. Since they are no longer "first" and therefore not ground-breaking, CBS decides to drop their film. Virginia is very upset by this turn of events. Bill goes to comfort her and she sobs on his chest.

Lester and Barbara go to see an Italian film about lovers. She thinks it was incomprehensible, but Lester says it was so much more real and messy than Hollywood movies about happily ever after. Like their lives. He grabs Barbara and kisses her and asks her not to give up on him. She nods.

Dr Masters meets his old mentor, Barton, at a bar. Barton says he pulled some strings and got Bill's CBS film cancelled. He implies he stopped the rival's book from being published. He says Masters' work is better but he's not ready to show it to the world yet. Bill confesses that he didn't realize that Virginia was in the middle of a custody battle and that he didn't tell her the film was going to get cancelled. Barton chides Bill Masters for always running the show himself and making all the decisions without asking anyone else. He says it's hell on the people around him. He needs to open himself to more people. Bill says he didn't mean to hurt Virginia.

Libby and Robert are in bed together. Robert says this has got to stop. Libby says her husband has been having an affair for years and that she had to pretend it wasn't happening and focus on her children. She wants to keep it going.

Dr. Austin Langham watches the inauguration of President Kennedy on TV at the Cal-o-metric office. He is impressed that he wears no top hat. Robert and Libby and the whole CORE team watch the inauguration together. There is talk of new beginnings and new freedoms. Virginia's kids unpack their clothes at their father's house. Betty watches the inauguration at Masters & Johnson's office with tears in her eyes.

Masters and Johnson are shown persuading Barbara and Lester that they should take a "leap of faith" and trust them and each other to use the new protocol for impotence. They apologize for their past mistakes which filled the couple with despair. They say that the couple must learn to "trust each other" and to be in it "fully together."

The scene ends with Kennedy saying on TV "the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this country...."