Three months after discovering a startling new lead, Det. Harry Bosch is still pursuing the truth behind his mother's cold case. A murder of a high-profile attorney puts the city on edge so Chief Irvin Irving creates a Task Force with Bosch in charge. Bosch must contend with two former adversaries.

The protest looming, Billets strikes a deal with the activists. Irving realizes that old friends are new enemies. Crate and Barrel solve the case of their careers. As the Task Force scrambles to salvage their investigation, Bosch finds himself in the depths of underground Los Angeles.

Stuck now at the desert shill encampment with no easy escape plan and no way to communicate with Edgar, Bosch befriends Clayton and searches of information about his murder suspects. He learns about the death of her daughter, Daisy. Maddie, still raw from losing her mom and fearing the worst, asks Billets about where her dad may be. That Bosch is still undercover is news to Billets, but she reassures Maddie that everything will be okay. Pierce and Vega, concerned that the pharmacy killers have also learned Jose Jr.'s hiding spot, head to Bakersfield to find him. They intercept one of the killers who's there to tie up the loose end that is Jose, Jr. While Cronyn assures Borders that Bosch will play no role in his upcoming hearing, Chandler lays legal groundwork with a visit to her good friend Judge Sobel. Billets and Mankiewicz realize just how far up the chain of command the manipulated crime stats might go, forcing Billets to wrestle with what she'll do with the information. On a pill run back in LA, Bosch gets Clayton arrested, hoping to use her to get a message to Edgar. On return to the compound, however, Walsh has grown weary of Bosch, and Bosch finds himself in another dangerous jam. Edgar, researching the Haitian businessman he saw with Marcos and Arias, gets a call about Clayton's arrest, and the note she carries from Bosch. Scott Anderson gets tipped about police misconduct, and Cronyn suggests Bosch planted evidence to frame Borders for murder. Anderson seeks corroboration with mixed results. But lacking only a statement from Bosch, Anderson's editor decides to run the story.