In the two-hour pilot-premiere, Jessie returns to her hometown after her divorce. Before she meets her new superiors at the local police department, she tackles her first case — a delicate hostage situation that produces a denunciation of her methods from a tough police lieutenant (series regular played by Tony Lo Bianco), a by-the-book lawman. Celeste Holm appears as Jessie's young-at-heart mother. Also stars William Lucking and David Michael Grant.

Despite Jessie's warning that an undercover officer is under extreme stress, Ascoli refuses to pull her from a weapons trafficking case.