Jay Leno stops by the Waterfront Bar while in town visiting his cousin Mary; Munch and Bayliss don't want to bother him. A new year starts out with a clean board and Brodie begins his work taping with the detectives. A sniper takes the city hostage, threatening to and executing people every 8 hours. The sniper uses Hangman as a way to leave clues for the detectives. Bayliss is the primary and his back is giving him trouble as he worries about surgery his doctor wants him to have. To combat the pain, he keeps taking muscle relaxants. A suspect is found and cornered and he shoots himself before they can take him into custody. Russert gets demoted when Barnfather doesn't like the way she handled the investigation.

The sniper continues the shootings and everyone returns to duty lacking sleep. The media starts to make their presence felt. Munch begins to worry about Howard's safety, fearing she'll be wounded again. Frank makes his wife wear a bulletproof vest. Gee asks for Russert's help even though Barnfather had ordered her to stand down during the rest of this investigation. A man at the scene of both of the day's shootings is put into the box for questioning. Russert has a talk with the suspect with the subject being keeping people's attention and respect.