An elderly woman is found tied up and sexually assaulted in her apartment, and suspicion is initially on the young men that had broken into her home and robbed her, but once the detectives are surprised to learn that the rape was committed after the robbery – by someone else.

A Romanian immigrant is being held as a psychological prisoner by her abusive employer and his wife, who is also traumatized by years of abuse and is willing to commit murder to protect her husband. A forensic psychologist analyzes the team, and presents disturbing findings to Cragen, suggesting that one of the detectives be removed from the team.

Stabler's daughter bears witness to a horrific crime scene: a rocket scientist found dead with his crotch on fire. The scientist had strong ties to government security and detectives must determine if that had something to do with his demise. The internal investigation into the psyches of the SVU detectives yields interesting results.

The search for an out-of-state police officer's runaway daughter leads the detectives through an underground rave culture that caters to wayward teens. They use an Internet journalist to track her and their search is seen through the eyes of the squad room personnel as told in their interviews with the Internal Affairs division.

The remains of a Romanian woman are found three years after her death, buried in an apartment courtyard with a collar and leash. The detectives have a tough time finding the killer until a composite photo leads them to the victim's identical twin sister.

A series of brutal rapes and attacks on Asian women lead the police to a suspect who was himself a product of rape - his father being a rapist who was convicted. The question is brought to court of whether his genetic make-up was responsible for the crimes.