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.

While patrolling, police stumble upon an attack in progress at Momma Sue’s restaurant on the pregnant owner. Her husband is arrested and then seeks to have her charged with neglect for drinking during her pregnancy. The detectives discover it's not the first time a child has been exposed to the devastating repercussions of her uncontrolled alcoholism.

Benson and Stabler have trouble identifying a male murder victim in his 20's found in a pile of sheets in the West Village; they later suspect an outspoken minister who was in the process of flooding the victim with hate mail and death threats. When the activist's alibi checks out, the detectives turn their attention to a professor who objects to the victim's thesis on the failure of sexual re-education groups.

The conviction of a group of sociopathic high school bullies who turned on one of their own escalates into even more violence and death in their exclusive private school.

After the body of Vicky Riggs is found, Benson and Stabler delve into her private life and finally learn that in addition to being a respected lawyer, she was also a stripper. A surveillance photo leads them to Linus McKellen, her boss' husband, who was also having an affair with her. There isn't enough evidence to prove he murdered Vicky, but when Vicky's co-worker at the club, Josie Post, is also found murdered, DNA proves that McKellen's semen was found in her body, despite his disabled wife Tessa's conviction that he would never murder anyone. Suspicion turns on Tessa herself once the detectives interview the only man who seems capable of having committed the murders.