When the son and housekeeper of a pair of prominent biologists are murdered, detectives suspect the couple's work on a controversial pharmaceutical study may have made them targets for the killer.

An unconscious war widow and her lifeless infant are found in the rubble of a bombed army recruitment center; Jack McCoy is forced to make one of the most unpopular decisions of his career.

A deadly drunk-driving car accident brings Detectives Cyrus Lupo and Kevin Bernard to the scene when a suspicious nasal spray is found. After the medical examiner realizes the nasal spray is a powerful anesthetic that could easily disorient its user, the detectives become suspicious of the victim's boss, Zach Marshall