A prominent charity executive is murdered and claims of stalking and blackmail surface during the investigation. The case then leads to Rita Shalvoy, the wife of governor Donald Shalvoy, and once again Jack McCoy must know if he is willing to prosecute his old friend.

Detectives Lupo and Bernard investigate a serial killer who targets homeless men and discover that a copycat may be at work, but to arrest the murderers they need the testimony of a bipolar skater who is having a psychotic attack.

Two engaged scientists die in a fire and their mentally challenged neighbor is injured while trying to help them. The detectives discover that the couple was stabbed before the fire and this leads them to a disturbed and extremely jealous woman.

Firefighter Thomas Cooper and his wife Linda are tortured and murdered in their new townhouse. The murders are thought to be linked to an old unsolved drug case, but then the detectives learn about a firefighter named Nick Spence, who had just joined Cooper's company and was being severely hazed. The investigation suffers a setback when Spence dies in a fire under suspicious circumstances.

The detectives investigate the vicious beating of an Hispanic illegal immigrant who may be linked to a series of other hate crimes.

Detectives Lupo and Bernard investigate the murder of a television reporter who was involved in a love triangle with one of her co-workers.

A writer is murdered after investigating an espionage case involving the Chinese government that led to the imprisonment of a man many years ago.

The mistress of the CEO of a failed bank is killed in a hit-and-run and the investigation leads to a kidnapping and extortion plot.

The creator of a religious website is murdered and the trail leads to a corrupt charitable organization who was stealing from his clients. When the detectives are ready to arrest him the suspect seeks asylum in the Embassy of Iran claiming to be victim of a Zionist conspiracy.

After an Army recruitment center is bombed an unconscious woman and her dead baby who were sleeping at the place are found in the wreckage. The case gets even more complicated after a group of voluntary vigilantes interfere in the investigation and both of the prime suspects, including the baby's own mother, have equal motives for the crime.

A police officer who has been having financial problems takes hostages at gunpoint and is then killed by fellow officers. He has the keys to an apartment that is not his primary residence; detectives Lupo and Bernard search the apartment and find a dead body and valuable stolen documents that have been stolen by a man who needs them to prove that he is the illegitimate son of John F. Kennedy.

A murdered truck driver has ties to the Russian mob.

Harold Foley and his wife Joyce, both biologists at a local university, come home to find their son and their housekeeper murdered. The case leads to a man obsessed with a certain sorority.

A plaintiff in a class-action suit against an airline is murdered and the murder may have been committed by a lawyer linked to many other murders in the past.

A pair of divorce lawyers are murdered in their home and the investigation leads to a possible cover-up involving the abuse of adopted Haitian children.

A woman's body is found in a city garden, leaving Bernard and Lupo to sort through her contradictory life and her ties to a cop's death in New Jersey. Then Cutter's case is jeopardized by a law clerk with a crush whose judge requires an unusual amount of assistance.

A well-known memoir writer who wrote a book about his early life as a male prostitute is found dead, but as the detectives investigate they discover that the book was based on the life of another person.

A tourist is murdered and the detectives suspect that corrupt law enforcement officers from a small town are involved. Meanwhile, the governor threatens to nominate a new District Attorney for the upcoming election.

A crane falls and kills a man and the detectives find evidence of foul play.

A young man's murder is linked to a woman who has escaped from a polygamous religious cult.

The detectives hope that a mentally challenged patient can help them solve the case of a man found murdered in a park, but the patient's family may be responsible for the crime.

A stockbroker is beaten to death and the investigation leads to an illegal street-fighting ring. Issues around misuse of terrorism statutes are explored.