In the premiere episode, Paris is summoned to an influential councilman's home as he leaves the campus after class one evening. The councilman, Julius Wellman, has returned from a staff meeting to discover the lifeless body of his wife. The immediate supposition is that she awakened during a burglary, was beaten by the culprit and fell, striking her head against a table. At home, mulling over the case with his wife. Barbara, Woody is perplexed by a number of slightly out-of-kilter facts. The investigation proceeds and startling evidence is uncovered, but, before the investigation is wrapped up, Paris finds there's more to the case than manslaughter and burglary.

A series of rapes culminating in brutal murders has prompted newspapers and a concerned councilwoman to demand immediate police action.