The parents of a woman murdered in Manhattan try to get the case moved to Connecticut so that they can pursue the death penalty against the defendant, a suspected serial killer.

Detectives Briscoe and Logan investigate the murder of Dawn Bryan. The young African-American woman once had a bright future ahead of her. She was a good student and was even voted most likely to succeed. It seems to have all come tumbling down when she got hooked on crack. She was shot with a .45 caliber gun and their first suspect is her supplier and sometime live-in boyfriend who goes by the street name of Skate. The dead woman's family are devastated by the loss of their daughter but they feel they lost her long ago when she became hooked on drugs. When the evidence points to a family member as the likely culprit, ADA Stone and DA Adam Schiff both feel a good deal of sympathy. Paul Robinette however doesn't think anyone should have leniency and pushes for a grand jury indictment.

The discovery of skeletal remains on Roosevelt Island leads to a new trial for a former Wall Steet junk bond broker now serving time in the victim's murder. The defendant chooses to act as his own counsel.

Briscoe and his new partner, Rey Curtis, track down the man accused of kidnapping and killing a young girl. But before the suspect is arraigned, the girl's mother shoots and kills him in the courtroom.

The prime suspect in the murders of the son and housekeeper of married university researchers is a journalist who appears to be obsessed with girls from a particular sorority.