Captain Ross, Goren and Eames have their Thanksgiving plans interrupted when the deputy commissioner's daughter, a US soldier home from Iraq, goes missing. At the same time, Goren has difficulty coping with the failing health of his needy mother.

An investigation into the murder of the wife of a televangelist leads to the discovery of a seedy relationship he had with a hustler that may have contributed to the crime. Meanwhile, Goren runs into his brother while visiting his ailing mother.

Goren and Eames find a scrapbook belonging to a serial killer on death row. It suggests that he may have had more victims than previously known.