Mannion goes head-to-head with the U.S. Attorney General and a tough civil-rights lawyer (Jaclyn Smith) in an emotionally charged episode. The investigation into the murder of an 11-year-old girl turns up the child's photo on a porn site, prompting Mannion to seek help from Attorney General Hatcher to toughen legislation against Internet child pornography. But Hatcher has an agenda of his own. In other cases, the chief is asked by a congressman to look into a case involving the alleged accidental death of his son, and a high-profile lawyer (Smith) accuses an officer of using excessive force.

When father Patrick Debreno is shot at a funeral, Mannion and his team start an investigation to discover who the shooter is. They search through Monsignor Banning (father Debreno's mentor) past and discover accusations against him on sexual abuse against a child. Suspecting that father Debreno was not the target, Mannion reopens the case and the mother of a molested child gives herself in. Meanwhile, Ella struggles to balance her time between work and Clive, while the characters reflect on their faith during the course of the episode.

The wife of a heavyweight boxing champion is found murdered in her hotel room, and Temple, the first officer on the scene, comes under suspicion because of a past relationship with the victim, who was habitually abused by her husband. Also: a custodial worker at the police department is discovered to have a false identity.

One of Vanessa Cavanaugh's students commits what she taught to be a perfect murder. No evidence, no witnesses. After the murder confesses to Temple and Debreno his crime, he starts to play with Mannion, who can't seem to charge him since the confession wasn't recorded. Mannion is out to get him for the murder of the father of 3 children and ends up finding a way to link the suspect to the murder scene. Meanwhile, Parras works on a Jane Doe case and finds the victim's estranged mother; and Kendall finds it difficult to end her relationship with a married man.

While in L.A. Mannion unexpectedly meets up with Vanessa Cavanaugh and offers her a ride. Unfortunately the rental care is carjacked and the pair find themselves stranded in a deserted part of town after they get carjacked. Back in Washington, Deputy Mayor Lockhart asks Debreno to help her find a blackmailer who has a scandalous videotape that could destroy her career; Kendall is threatened by her ex-boyfriend; and Ella is offered a job by the mayor.

The mayor is more determined to remove Mannion from office after a man is arrested and dies while in custody, apparently, due to an officer's failure to follow proper procedures. Things get even more intense between the two rivals when the mayor's mentally disturbed son goes missing after being taken to a hospital by two cops.

Without a job and his best friend, Jack takes off to Arizona to play some golf, but not even without his badge he can stop solving crimes. He gets himself involved in a scheme of dirty cops with Mexican dealers and crosses the border to catch the dealer – which he does. Meanwhile, back in D.C., Cavanaugh and Sherry team up to trace Jack and Cavanaugh discovers something that might save Jack's job. Nancy does some investigation on her own and discovers that the guy that died on Brander's hand was injured prior to their encounter, which could clear Brander. Temple and Debreno set up a scheme with Cashmere Brown to bust Lester Richards, who ends up shot to death by Temple.

Back from his Arizona vacation and determined to get his job back, Jack starts campaigning for being Chief of police, even though it's not an elected position. He chooses not to use the illegal taping card that might get him back in the office in no time for a future use and moves into a poor neighborhood. Meanwhile, Brander decides to go back to the force and teams up with Nancy to investigate Lester Richard's death, for which Temple got arrested. They discover that Maria ""Cashmere Brown"" Rodriguez was lying, which frees Temple – but doesn't exactly prove he didn't kill Lester vindictively.

After Chief Strickland causes the death of an innocent old lady due to having inaccurate information on the whereabouts of a dangerous drug lord, Mannion decides to catch the guy himself. He uses the help of his best men, who put their jobs at steak and work parallel to Strickland's orders. Mannion's house is burnt down after he keeps stopping kids from selling drugs. When Mannion finally catches the guy, Mayor Douglas won't give his job back, so Jack is forced to reveal that he knows the phone wire was illegal, which ultimately forces Douglas to give him his job back. Meanwhile, Temple investigates two cops whom he thinks are abusing their authority and beating the people they arrest, while Debreno sleeps with Maria Rodriguez, which causes some conflict on his friendship with Temple.

Mannion investigates the death of a man during a Civil War reenactment. While Temple takes the matter personally when one of the suspects turns out to be a big time racist, it's Noland who, trying to find a connection between him and a man in an old picture, discovers a rivalry between the prime suspect and the victim that dates back to the Civil War days. Meanwhile, Debreno and Regan are out testing a new bait car that almost causes the death of a car thief.

Mannion wants to believe that it was self-defense when his attractive fencing teacher's husband is killed at her studio. Meanwhile, Debreno recognizes a suspect in a drug case as his childhood friend who convinced Debreno to go into the Police Academy.

Mannion investigates of the murder of a young illegal immigrant leads to the discovery of a car theft ring run by a teenage gang that is selling cars as far away as El Salvador.

Mannion investigates the murder of two young women, one of whom is identified as Debreno's sometime girlfriend, Maria.