When a pregnant loan officer is found in the trunk of her car with fatal gunshot wounds, Detectives Briscoe and Green at first suspect a carjacking or the woman's fiance and co-worker. But as the woman's premature baby clings to life in the hospital, the investigation turns to professional basketball player Cris Cody, whose ties to the dead woman may extend beyond the loans she approved for him--and may include reason for him to want her and her unborn child dead.

When a participant in a TV reality show is murdered, McCoy goes after the producers and network executives for deliberately fomenting hostility among the participants to boost the ratings. All too appropriately, the outcome of the case hinges on a videotape made by a hidden-camera.

When the dead body of Karen Hall, an investigator with the State Attorney General's Office Criminal Division, is found in a Manhattan river, Detectives Briscoe and Green find that her boss, Frank Conroy, had written off her disappearance as a random kidnapping from an Albany train station. But as more is learned about Conroy's controlling relationships -- with the dead woman, with his wife and with a long-term girlfriend -- he quickly becomes a suspect.

The murder of a prep school student points to a mystery woman who may have been extorting money from the victim's wealthy father.

Jamie Ross returns to defend a student accused in a mass school slaying.

A woman's murder leads the police to discover the actual target was a reporter who did a story about improprieties in a recent senatorial election. Carmichael can't get the reporter to reveal her sources for a story that contains allegations that the vote was fixed and ballots tampered with, even though the reporter's life is at risk. Without the source, McCoy and Carmichael have a difficult time making a case against the Senator, who they believe has ties to the mob and ordered the hit on the reporter. The case hinges on 2000 missing ballots from the vote that were stolen by the mob. Once the ballots are found, there is a big court battle about whether or not the ballots should be counted. McCoy believes that the ballots will show Benton's motive for ordering the hit, but an appellate court won't allow it, so their case is virtually dead. In the end, McCoy is able to convince the reporter to reveal her source and have him testify against the senator.