A very skilled and famous skyscraper climber falls off the Empire State Building while attempting to scale it. Mac Taylor and Sheldon Hawks (on his first field assignment) investigate the case. In another part of the city, Stella Bonasera and Danny Messer must solve the mysterious death of a famous designer found dead, wearing his latest creation which is a bra made of diamonds. Aiden Burn works solo on a rape case.

Detective Lindsay Monroe joins the CSI team. Her first case leads her to New York's zoo, where a dead man has been found in a tiger's cage. However, it is soon stated that the man wasn't killed by the tiger, but by another person.