Sipowicz struggles to suppress his rage while investigating the rape of a little girl, coming face to face with a suspect who sends him way over the edge. Meanwhile, Simone is utterly distressed by the brutal depths to which a drug-addicted mother will go to support her habit, then disgusted with himself for solving the murder of a Korean grocer. And that murder, in a predominantly black neighborhood leaves his grieving son hostile toward everyone, including the detectives at the 15th Precinct.

Two young women who secretly worked as exotic dancers are raped and murdered, leaving Andy and Bobby to wade through a sea of scum before closing the case. An unreliable acquaintance of James' says that a man's estranged wife and her new lover are in danger from the cuckolded husband, leading the cops on a wild goose chase. Diane is angry when a snooty woman blames an accidental theft on her immigrant housekeeper, and closes the case before letting the woman know she will get an INS visit if she mistreats the worker again.