Bayliss, Gharty, and Ballard return to duty to find a completely remodeled squadroom and a new detective in the unit: Rene Sheppard, fresh from the fugitive squad. Everyone is called in to work a trio of savage murders in Little Italy, with one of the victims being Gee's cousin Mario. Gee's estranged son Mike, an FBI agent stationed in Phoenix, arrives in town and helps close the case, whose roots stretch back to Mario's choice to testify against a union boss 25 years earlier. Bayliss exhibits a new, Buddhist-influenced philosophical attitude toward his work, and hints of relationships among the detectives begin to surface - including one between Munch and Billie Lou.

After being shot at, a wealthy doctor shoots an intruder in his garage. Homicide determines the body is his sister-in-law. Two sets of fingerprints are found on her gun; the money trail (gambling debts, forgeries, insurance) leads to an unlikely conspiracy.