Precinct Captain Furillo tries to defuse a hostage situation despite the advice of his gung-ho Emergency Action Team leader and the temperament of a self-absorbed gang leader; public defender Joyce Davenport tries to find a client who has been lost in the bureaucratic maze; Detective LaRue gets a lapful of coffee; Sgt. Esterhaus confides to Fay about his teenage sweetheart; Officers Hill and Renko are shot in the line of duty.

Hill and Renko meet again for the first time since their shooting; Esterhaus tries to avoid Grace Gardner, the new police decorator; two transfer officers get themselves into trouble; Belker pursues rapists in the park; and Furillo must deal with Fay's demands for more money and an impending Presidential visit.

Hill and Renko decide to split up as a team; LaRue is offered a bribe by a drug dealer who turns out to be a cop; Furillo tries to negotiate with the gangs to ensure a peaceful Presidential tour; Belker agrees to a blind date; and Fay is arrested in a hot tub.

Furillo backs LaRue in the bribery case brought by Macafee; Hill and Renko bust a car thief who's a mechanical whiz; and Esterhaus sees Grace in a new light when they share a crisis at the station house when the Presidential visit is cancelled and gang revenge is feared.

A prostitute accuses a detective of blackmailing her for sex; Goldblume searches for a missing child; a former gang leader returns to the Hill as crusading social reformer; Belker busts a purse snatching orangutan and keeps in touch with an undercover rookie planted inside a volatile street gang; and Furillo and Esterhaus question their current romantic involvements.

Belker meets an eccentric calling himself ""Captain Freedom"" while on a stakeout; LaRue gets more than he bargained for as a cell plant when he overhears an arson suspect taunting an accused child molester; and Furillo issues an ultimatum to the gangs after a savage massacre in a local tavern.

Belker and Washington go undercover at a porno theater; Hill and Renko answer a domestic call concerning a suicidal man holding his wife and child hostage; a pickup basketball game between the cops and the gangs calls for full-scale negotiations.

Hill and Renko arrest councilman Detweiler for drunken driving; Belker is joined by actor Jon Gennaro on his undercover job; Fay goes to work as a crime reporter for an advertising weekly; and Furillo looks into the charges made against his men by a bitter Lou Hogan.

The governor's dog is stolen; Renko and Theresa quarrel at a party; six rookies face hazing; LaRue and Washington try to chase down an autopsy report; and Eddie Gregg becomes Belker's snitch.

Belker makes a bust while picking up a ring at a jewelry store; Furillo tries to make a murder case without a body or autopsy report; Renko gets dumped; the Phantom strikes one final time; and a terrified Eddie implicates his lover in a vicious drug murder.

The governor's dog is found; Eddie's role as an informant leaks out; Furillo tries to stop coroner Nydorf from testifying; and Crawford decides on his future course as a policeman.

LaRue makes a fool of himself with some high school girls; Belker endangers his relationship with Robin by trying to protect her; a talkative comic is brought in on numerous parking tickets; Goldblume and Calletano clash over seniority and rank; Coffey is forced to deal roughly with a man tripping on PCP.

Belker and LaRue learn that Washington was set up by someone in the station house; the long overdue cash payroll is hijacked; Joyce meets a really nice purse snatcher; and Furillo finds Jesus Martinez behind bars.

Hill wins $100,000 in the lottery; Deputy Chief Mahoney tries to ride herd on Furillo's precinct; mayoral candidate Benjamin Fisk moves into a crime-ridden housing project; Goldblume tries to help Hector Ruiz control the Diablos; and Coffey and Bates bust a couple of lady mud wrestlers.

Kiki tries to persuade Eldridge to change his story; Hill's behavior gets worse and worse as he blows all his money; Fisk returns to the housing project with tragic results; Coffey sulks when Bates scores higher on the sergeant's exam; and Daniels has to make peace between Furillo and Mahoney.

Sergeant Esterhaus dies unexpectedly and the whole station house tries to deal with their grief as they eulogize the man. Meanwhile, Leo finds out his wife is cheating on him; Bates may get a unique promotion; Mrs. Furillo is mistakenly arrested for soliciting by a rookie; Sandy is raped.

Goldblume is fascinated by a call girl held on murder charges whose elite clientele has newspapers bidding for her story and her fearful clients threatening her life. Also, tributes to Esterhaus continue to roll in.

Goldblume and Calletano try to figure out station command as Furillo tries to resist taking a drink; LaRue and Washington dog William Mullins to protect Joyce; and Renko finds he has similar problems to Jesus Martinez.

Garibaldi tries to save himself some money by doing some unofficial police work for a guy whose car he rearended; Belker is left exposed on his latest undercover by agents from another agency; and the mayor's gang appointee to the Youth Commission comes under fire for favoritism.

Calletano prepares for a game show appearance; Renko tries to organize his wedding attendants; Peabody goes to the loan sharks Belker has infiltrated; and Furillo has to deal with renewed gang violence and Joyce's decision to take some time alone.

Belker's loan sharks commandeer a prison bus and demand him in exchange for their hostages; Goldblume tries an unusual video-dating service; Renko has second thoughts as his wedding approaches while Coffey ""invests"" the wedding present money.

Furillo feels pressure from the press and Chief Daniels to clear up the shooting death of the Reverend Booker Simons; Joe Keenan interferes on the Hill in pursuit of some renegade Colombian drug dealers; Joyce tries to help a very young hooker straighten out; LaRue and Washington are forced to move early on a chop shop where Belker is undercover; Fay endangers the Simons investigation by revealing information to the victim's wife; Hill and Renko find a dead man and a live sheep in a compromising position; and Jesus (Martinez) rises again.

Renewed gang feuding involves a small local grocery store and its owners; Belker takes his anger about Robin's decision to stop seeing him out on his frightened informant during a beauty parlor undercover; Garibaldi cuts corners to help a young hooker and in his night school class; and Furillo must work against Daniels to head off a major gang battle.

New ADA Davenport faces opposition when she decides to prosecute three white teens for the death of a young black athlete; Furillo's car accident starts an investigation into illegal gun sales by Al DiPiano; and Mayo has a date with Chief Daniels.

Coffey tries to mediate between an irate landlord and a tenant who insists an image on his water stained wall is that of the Virgin Mary; the Furillos tries to renew a family relationship with his parents; Buntz uses ""Officer Giblet"" to make a drug bust; and the guys compete in a benefit tug of war competition.

Bates agonizes over identifying Coffey's killer; Hunter uncovers an unexpected thief in the station; a prostitute sells out Jesus and Attorney Brown in a bribery scandal; and Belker's harassed by an overzealous security guard.

Jesus, scared of being pinned with Attorney Brown's murder, agrees to go undercover against a crooked judge; Hunter loses Prunella to a large Samoan; Belker poses as a loan shark in a roach coach; and Buntz' former partner asks another favor.

Chaos reigns as the P.D.'s job action continues; Hunter faces his demotion and takes over as roll call sergeant for the ailing Jablonski; the detective LaRue tried to bust as a fence transfers to the Hill; Flaherty and Bates try to defuse a man who promises to blow himself up for money; and Joyce walks a tightrope as she tries to end the job action and cut a deal for her client that would put away the violent mugger.

The Hill faces renewed gang violence when Jesus' sister is apparently kidnapped on the eve of her wedding to a Gypsy Boy; LaRue experiences emotional highs and lows when a perp's gun misfires three times in his face; Hunter is found, but his survival came at a high cost; IAD Shipman pursues a case against Buntz concerning a missing kilo of cocaine.