The last year has brought great change to the lives of the Seaside Health and Wellness doctors. After struggling with infertility, Addison (Kate Walsh) was blessed to adopt a baby boy named Henry. In her love life, she made the decision to move on from Sam (Taye Diggs), who wasn’t ready for a family, and gave the practice’s newest addition, Jake (Benjamin Bratt), a shot. But just when she started to become comfortable with the new man in her life, Sam stunned her with a proposal. Now Addison has a big decision to make… whom will she choose? Elsewhere, Charlotte (KaDee Strickland) and Cooper’s (Paul Adelstein) relationship was tested when someone unexpected showed up in their lives: Unbeknownst to Cooper, he had fathered a son, Mason (Griffin Gluck), who is now the third member of their family. After rekindling his romance with wife, Violet (Amy Brenneman), Pete (Tim Daly) found himself in trouble with law when he took his patient off life support without family consent, leaving his freedom now threatened. And recently sober Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) dealt with an extremely difficult pregnancy and carried her brain-less baby to term, even though she knew it would not survive after birth. Yet with the support of her closest confidant, Sheldon (Brian Benben), and the rest of the Seaside Wellness doctors, she proved to have great strength during the most painful period in her life.

The sixth season of Private Practice premiered on September 25, 2012 and feature a limited run of thirteen episodes. Private Practice was renewed for a sixth season on May 11, 2012. It has been confirmed that Tim Daly will not be returning, and that series star Kate Walsh will also depart after completing thirteen episodes of the sixth season.
In a recent interview, Shonda Rhimes stated that this season will feature: "a death, some babies, a likely return of a favorite and there could possibly be a wedding" with the rumoured possibility of a musical episode and return of ex-cast member Audra McDonald.
Paul Adelstein confirmed via Twitter that he is going to direct episode 12 of the season.