Everyone must play along when a Vietnamese man tries to obtain justice for the murder of his parents by American soldiers in the Vietnam War. Judge Sims' courtroom is televised live for the country as Bobby prosecutes and Ramon defends the soldiers who have been forced to come to the court either in person or by telephone. Waiting in the wings are Cynthia and Fatima who can't seem to get along because of Cynthia's privileged background and Fatima's Brooklyn working-class roots.

Judge Rifkind, who's still being berated in the New York press for going easy on an offender who shot a rookie cop, recommends that Ramon get a taste of what the streets are really like by riding around with other police officers in a patrol car. Ramon complies and meets a prostitute named Paris who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. When Paris appears in night court, Ramon tries to defend her against a prosecuting attorney who has his own agenda. Also, ADA Fatima Kelly is faced with a moral dilemma when she learns that her next door neighbour's daughter is on drugs.

Shortly after a phone worker reports that he found a ""bug"" on a phone line, the man is arrested on drug charges. He claims that he's being framed by a federal agency to protect an illegal wiretap. His defending attorney, Ramon, believes him and uses it as his defence before Judge Rifkind. Rifkind becomes embroiled in the case, and his paranoia about being monitored escalates when he brings in a friend from Washington to investigate. Judge Sims suffers retribution for going against the mayor to help Rifkind when her personal life is out to the public by the press.

Cynthia is knocked unconscious in an attack outside her storefront office. Judge Rifkind takes aside a defendant who has spent a lifetime fighting social injustice, leading to a debate about the system. Ramon counsels a teenager accused of patronizing a prostitute. Bobby accosts the man who attacked Cynthia, and Ramon can't get a house in the suburbs because he is Latino.

Judge Attallah Sims takes on a freedom of expression suit against a successful artist accused of exploiting an underage girl who posed for his painting without her father's permission. The father subsequently destroys the painting and lands back at 100 Centre St. J.J. catches Fatima in a series of compromising positions with various officers. After Fatima loses it in Rifkind's courtroom, Rifkind starts to suspect something is wrong with her. An arrogant J.J. starts to make his way up the ranks of the Joint Task Force.