Malloy and Reed patrol a neighborhood of Los Angeles inhabited by a large retired population. Calls include a purse snatching during which the suspect eluded capture, but was later found during routine patrol, an elderly man with multiple warrants for auto theft trying to break into a car in a church parking lot, a dispute between an elderly woman and man over her eviction and his offer to take her in (the woman is later arrested when she begins smashing 1-Adam-12's windshield with a baseball bat), a dispute over $5, a baby stroller rolling into a lake, and a retired policeman-turned-security guard named George who wants to talk shop, then assists in the suspects' arrest after a robbery, afterwards laments to the officers about being lonely due to all of his friends passing on.

Malloy is kidnapped leaving the station by a drug runner and his female accomplice, demanding her boyfriend be released from jail in exchange for Malloy. When the couple has Malloy contact the station to confirm his status, he reveals a clue about where they found a girl with a mannequin (a reference to the episode "Citizen With Gun"). Reed finds Malloy's car and a citizen gives a description of Malloy's kidnappers and their car, which Reed finds abandoned but he locates their hideout from case files, meanwhile Malloy manages to spill gasoline and ignites it, allowing Malloy to be rescued by Reed who notices the gunfire and smoke.

Reed's bust of a drug dealer named Sparky was thrown out in court, and after Sgt. MacDonald offers him a chance to join the Vice squad for 30 days to gain experience, Reed volunteers, however the lifestyle and training cause a rift between him and Jean, and Reed quickly discovers how dirty Vice is; he's involved in a bust where a man wants to trade drugs for pictures of young boys, and the assignment is taking its toll on him. Malloy and Officer Woods team up to assist in the arrest of two drug dealers, but Malloy is shot and wounded during the bust and rescued by Reed.

Reed is awarded the Medal of Valor by the LAPD for rescuing a wounded Malloy from the shootout, and despite Jean's feelings about her husband's new assignment and about him taking the investigator's exam to become a Detective, she decides to attend the ceremony. Malloy and Reed reunite and handle cases; including a typing school B&E where both money and typewriters were suspected to be stolen, a suspicion confirmed by an assistant who allows the officers to freely check the typewriters; and a shootout in a warehouse full of mannequins with two young people.