Furillo loses an old friend as the corruption investigation winds up; a romantic triangle transfers to the Hill and comes to a boil; and Coffey gets shot by the cop killer.

Sergeant Esterhaus dies unexpectedly and the whole station house tries to deal with their grief as they eulogize the man. Meanwhile, Leo finds out his wife is cheating on him; Bates may get a unique promotion; Mrs. Furillo is mistakenly arrested for soliciting by a rookie; Sandy is raped.

Goldblume is fascinated by a call girl held on murder charges whose elite clientele has newspapers bidding for her story and her fearful clients threatening her life. Also, tributes to Esterhaus continue to roll in.

A judge intent on elevating jail conditions releases the court's overflow back into the streets; Bates has a rocky start as roll call sergeant; another professional hit covers up the murder of Whitney Barnes; after his memorial service, Furillo follows Esterhaus' last wishes to scatter his ashes on the Hill.