When a well-off graduate student gets shot to death in a gang-riddled neighborhood, the Major Crimes Division must work with the FBI, including Fritz Howard, to find his killer. Throughout the investigation, it is revealed how each member of the unit became interested in joining the police force.

A heavy body is found forty feet up a tree surrounded by marijuana when Dr. Morales shows up with his father, a retired detective from Uruguay; Julio Sanchez works to get legal guardianship of Mark Jarvis; Andy Flynn prepares a surprise for Sharon.