Officer Reed, who is an optimist and still has faith in the human race, is subjected to ridicule from Officer Wells after he is swindled twice. On patrol, he and Malloy come to the aid of a woman whose baby has been kidnapped by a heavily armed man seeking a large ransom. Afterward, wells once again questions Reed's judgment during the search for an intoxicated sniper at large.

Malloy and Reed are on patrol, and find a homeless man stabbed. They take a retired policeman, Jack Donohoe (who lives nearby), in for questioning, but he is released when the real suspect is found. Donohoe later gets involved in a shootout with a robbery suspect. Other incidents include an aspiring actress from Missouri shooting up a phone booth at Union Station after being lured by a theatrical agent who promised a movie career and took her money, and then having her suitcase, containing a rattlesnake, stolen at the station.

The officers respond to a shooting involving police and two black men, one of which was shot by one of the officers and later found dead in an alley. The dead man was the younger brother of Reed's friend Kenneth James; his older brother Cleotis was an accomplice and both were members of a black militant gang, The Brotherhood. Kenneth believes the gang's contention that Cleotis was murdered by the officers until the James brothers confront each other and Kenneth learns the truth; his brother Cleotis is arrested after briefly taking his brother hostage. Malloy and Reed also pull over an elderly driver on his 75th birthday for multiple traffic violations.

Malloy and Reed investigate a series of safe jobs, which all seem to tie in with a retired safecracker who is taking care of his orphaned niece and nephew, and after a "tip" from him, finds the niece and nephew practicing his old tricks on another safe. The officers also investigate a woman whose baby was held hostage by her cousin and forcing her to meet and steal from other men, after which the officers arrest the cousin and rescue the baby.