The 1981 murder of a single mother who disappeared is investigated when her body is found in the trunk of a car. The probe reveals the victim worked at a run-down car dealership and that several of her coworkers resented her.

The 1989 murder of a Russian opera prodigy who defected with her family to the U.S. before the fall of the Berlin Wall is reinvestigated. The case has significance for Vera because he was a rookie cop at the time and remembers the family seeking political asylum at the police station.