The body of Emily Trudeau, a court clerk, is found in the home of her married lover, Judge Peter Blakemore, a candidate for an open seat on the appellate court. Goren and Eames find that, despite being held in high regard by the legal community as an expert in the area of intellectual property law, the law review articles attributed to Blakemore were actually written by Trudeau. The murder investigation leads the Major Case Squad to Arnie Cox, a low-profile ex-convict with links to one of Blakemore's appellate seat rivals, Judge Raoul Sabatelli, who has authored a number of internationally successful crime novels. Despite Cox refusing to cooperate, and Carver's positive feelings towards Sabatelli, the detectives press on with their case, and find Sabatelli was incensed that the legal community wanted to see Blakemore gain the appellate seat rather than himself. While Blakemore's success came only from being born into a wealthy and well connected family, Sabatelli feels that he deserved the seat because he had worked hard all his life to get where he is today, with no money to fall back on. Goren and Eames discover that after Sabatelli found some of Trudeau's unpublished legal articles, he killed her so he could take them for himself.

Detectives Goren and Eames investigate the murder of a bisexual woman who is found slain in a hotel room. At first, Goren and Eames note the murder has the distinctive characteristics of one committed by an imprisoned serial killer, raising fears that he has found an accomplice to carry on his work while he is in prison. The investigation leads them to a human behavior research institute, where they discover that a series of experiments has been developed on the man to discover the main cause of his insanity. Then the detectives interview the institute's director, an arrogant doctor who struggles for public and scientific credibility, and his research assistant, a shy woman who might have fallen under the killer's spell and committed the copycat murder. Nevertheless, while D.A. Carver stalls to prevent the release of the imprisoned man, Goren and Eames discover evidence that might point toward a most unlikely ending.