A missing teenager found beaten and tied up in a college dormitory under construction claims that she was raped by three students, but as the investigation proceeds and information obtained by the police and the press causes her story to unravel quickly, the girl recants. Since Benson remains convinced that a rape did occur, the focus of the investigation shifts to the girl's overly-protective stepfather who has resisted the investigation from its onset. When the girl finally tells the truth about the attack, it becomes apparent that her lies were calculated to protect her innocent stepfather from physical and financial ruin, as another victim of her attacker comes forward.

When a baby boy is discovered in the rubbish, detectives Benson and Stabler use a t-shirt found at the scene to trace the crime back to a well-to-do college student.

A woman is murdered and her husband attacked, with their 6 year old son a witness to the attack. The man awakens in the hospital and remembers seeing his teenage daughter at the scene.