Det. Rose ""Phil"" Phillips, a detective with Portland Oregon's police homicide squad, is appointed the Women's Coordinator, raising hackles among her co-workers. But she soon becomes involved in more weighty matters after her friend and partner disappears, prompting worries from his wife and daughter , and leading to the involvement of a tough Internal Affairs Investigator in the case.
Now undermanned in the homicide division due to the death of Fusco and LeBlanc, and the arrest of the third officer, Phil is on the case of an apparent serial killer, who leaves a strange symbol inscribed at his murder scenes.
All the evidence seems to point to Judge Friedlander, but Phil comes dangerously close to badgering him and endangering her career, and possibly her life, in pursuit of the serial killer.
Shane Fusco's best friend is kidnapped while she and Shane walk through the park, and Phil is soon involved (more than she should be) questioning Shane about the events, and investigating the girl's disappearance. Meanwhile, a new detective by the name of Beck joins the force to close the manpower gap, and helps Phil with the case, the kind of case which Beck just happens to be an expert in.
When Shane's friend Rita turns up murdered, Phil, with the help of Beck, and another new detective by the name of Papadakis must investigate the murder from the pieces of evidence. Meanwhile, Shane becomes distant and withdrawn from Phil, and the world.
While Phil and Beck are in a restaurant, Phil spots a husband abusing his wife, so Phil threatens to bust him. And when the wife turns up dead, Phil is out for blood.
As Phil closes in on Garfield as his wife's killer, the husband's famous defense attorney Martin Fox turns the tables: he exposes Phil's affair with Vitelli in the press and alleges a police cover-up. The mess prompts a visit from Phil's estranged father, Bob Phillips.
When a body is discovered in the rubble of a torched warehouse, Phil and the detectives focus their investigation on a group of street kids living nearby, and at least one kid named Johnny may have been involved in arsons before. Meanwhile, Lt. Schwarz's college-aged daughter surprises him with some news, and Vitelli investigates a police leak to the paper.
A pregnant woman is hit in a drive-by shooting, and Phil's only witness is a mentally retarded man, who happens to have a photographic memory.
When a business man turns up in his bed, dead by a shootgun blast, all evidence seems to point to his daughter, who can't remember the night of the murder, but who does claim her father molested her.
Phil takes on a female officer's sexual-harassment case against a city official. But when the case becomes an Internal Affairs investigation, and Phil is pulled from the case, it means trouble between Phil and Vitelli. Meanwhile, Shane Fusco visits the station and gets a crush on ""Doc"".
Racial tensions complicate Beck's and Phil's investigation of the murder of a Korean spa owner who had been acquiring real estate in a predominantly black neighborhood.
The suspects in the murder of a newspaper reporter include a priest who once served time for manslaughter, but who now claims to be redeemed and repents by running a halfway house.
Lt. Schwarz leads the investigation into a brutal murder that closely resembles a disturbing case he handled 25 years earlier, in which the suspect got off on a technicality.
While doing a profile of Phil and generally being annoying and getting in the way, a TV reporter and her cameraman jeopardize a murder investigation, and then get themselves held as hostages by the prime suspect.
Phil's investigation into the grisly murder of a seemingly demure school teacher reveals surprising facts about her personal life.
Phil has her hands full running the station in Lt. Schwarz's absence, while the detectives investigate the mob-style murder of a police officer, encountering FBI interference along the way. Meanwhile, Vitelli visits with his father.
Clarke fatally shoots the brother of a murder suspect, prompting a promise of retribution from the real suspect. And tempers flare at the station when Internal Affairs questions the detectives in the ensuing investigation. Meanwhile, Lt. Schwarz announces his engagement, which sets up the return of Farnsworth (and jealousy from Vitelli), and a shootout at the wedding where the murder suspect is shot by ""Doc"" and Phil is apparently fatally wounded.