The Pilot

In the first episode of Northern Exposure we meet Joel Fleischman as he is on a plane flight to Alaska. In return for the state of Alaska paying for his medical education Joel has agreed to serve the state for four years. Joel is a graduate of Columbia Medical School and he thinks that as soon as he has served his time in relatively urban Anchorage he will be able to set up a lucrative practice in his native New York.
As soon as Joel arrives in the office of Pete Gilliam he is told that the state of Alaska over-funded and that they currently have more physicians than they need. Joel is thrilled but soon learns that the government has decided to set him up in a town which is an area referred to as the Alaskan Riviera. Joel thinks that if he doesn't like it he can leave but as he soon finds out that option becomes less and less likely.
Upon arriving in town Joel first meets American Indian Ed who takes him to meet Maurice who is an ex-astronaut and marine. Joel is already feeling a little like a fish out of water but things are about to get much worse for him. Maurice drives him into town where Joel nearly has a heart-attack when he finds out that the isolated town of Cicely is no New York. Maurice then takes Joel to his office where he meets another American Indian named Marilyn. Joel races to call Pete and he tells him in hysterics that he wants out. Pete tells him NO! The next person Joel meets is Holling at the bar. Joel soon learns that Holling stole Maurice's girlfriend Shelly and that Maurice now wants to kill Holling if he ever tries to speak to him again. Later Joel meets his landlord Maggie. Things don't start off well when Joel at first thinks she's a hooker. When Joel first starts practicing medicine in the town he encounters a beaver and a woman who is attempting to kill her husband. Joel does not like this red-neck wonderland one bit but his adventure has only just begun.