After a protected witness is shot dead in a restaurant, Goren and Eames find themselves on the trail of a trio of young mobsters. They finally figure out that a young man named Chops is the key, but can't find anyone willing to turn on him. Goren seeks the help of a fig-loving don dying of cancer to trap Chops.
A terminally ill bank robber angered by the ravages of his illness exerts what little control he has left in life by manipulating the unwitting accomplices he enlists to assist him with committing his final robberies, forcing Goren and Eames into a race against time to foil his plan for a suicide-by-cop that will take both his life and that of his latest accomplice.
The murder of a private investigator, who was tracking down the whereabouts of a prominent high school basketball player, has the detectives searching the local courts to discover a link to gamblers and college recruiters until they learn that several other prominent players were transferred to the same school - one with a championship tradition.
The bludgeoning of a rich family patriarch has the detectives investigating several suspects, each with their own motives: his estranged wife whom he was about to divorce, a male friend of hers who was a parolee, their childrens' nanny, the victim's brother in law who is a doctor, even the oldest son. Goren and Carver call the family of suspects together to sort it all out... in family court.
Tracking a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde, Goren deduces that one of his suspects has an injured foot. It isn't long before Goren and Bishop realise that the pair, who have already killed nine people including two undercover cops, are not the typical Bonnie and Clyde -- the female partner is obviously the one in control.
When a schizophrenic obsessed with Marilyn Monroe and the cult of the blond and the blue-eyed commits a series of murders to eradicate those he feels are responsible for promoting the homogenization of appearance rampant in society, Goren and Eames suspect that a person close to the man may have taken advantage of his illness and his crimes to commit extortion.