With tensions rising between Castle and Beckett, Castle finds himself a new partner -- Detective Ethan Slaughter (guest star Adam Baldwin, "Firefly"), a tough and colorful cop from the city's gang unit. But Castle gets more than he bargained for when Slaughter shows him a grittier side of police work that puts Castle in the line of fire like never before

A death in the woods draws Castle back to a terrifying and defining event in his childhood. Investigation leads to obsession, as he attempts to unearth answers that have eluded him for decades, all while Beckett faces a crossroads of her own.

A clue at the scene of the death of an armored-car driver leads Beckett and Castle back to an old case solved by Esposito. But complications arise when they learn that Esposito might not have been telling them everything about his past with the culprit.