When an art patron, Cindi, discovers a gruesome work of art, it leads gallery visitors to find a woman dead in her apartment above. Detectives Benson and Stabler look into the victim's personal contacts in search of suspects, including the victim's close friend Annette Cole. The detectives soon discover a work environment that leads them to question if bullying does go beyond the playground.

When a young girl is found dead with a doll that is believed to have been left as a totem, detectives Benson and Stabler team up with Captain Jackson, a psychologist who assisted them with a recent case, to investigate her murder. Jackson joins the detectives as they retrace the girl's last steps and go to meet with her piano teacher June Frye. Jackson's skills prove to be invaluable in deciphering the meaning of the totem and ultimately finding her killer.