Reed and Malloy report to a burglary call that was witnessed by a boy with a photographic memory. Afterward, they are called to the scene of two drunk men shooting at a box of dynamite at close range in a residential area.

It's Christmas Eve in Los Angeles, and Malloy and Reed track down a suspect who beat and mugged a rescue mission Santa, who later gets arrested himself. They also respond to an alcohol-related traffic accident that resulted in a fatality, help a penniless widow who has been detained for shoplifting and take part in the search for a young Native American child who wandered off into a mountainous area while her parents were asleep.

Officer Reed loses a robbery suspect while in foot pursuit. Afterward, he and Malloy try to help a priest prevent bloodshed between rival hispanic gangs, and then respond to a battered wife whose husband is very familiar to the officers.

Malloy and Reed's day begins with a police garage employee taking a joyride in a police car (Code 3), later finding a young woman trying to cash an old age benefits check she found, checking a garage whose closed circuit TV security system was stolen, an elderly woman thinking she saw a prowler, finding a B&E suspect inside a coffin in a mortuary, and poaching into Officer Wells' territory to check on break-ins occurring in warehouses; finally apprehending two drugged out burglars inside a warehouse.

Malloy celebrates his birthday by having to let Reed drive 1-Adam-12 (due to Malloy allowing his driver's license to expire) and is nervous about his young partner driving the car. Calls include a bank robbery reported by the Bank robber, a burglary involving several neighbors, an abandoned baby, a suicidal wife who killed her husband on their 22nd wedding anniversary, and a drug dealer selling his wares out of an ice cream truck.