Malloy needs to sell two tickets to the ballet after his date cancels, but he quickly regrets putting a notice on the station's bulletin board. While patrolling the harbor and surrounding area, he and Reed investigate a marine fuel dealer accused of forgery, pull over a driver with a suspicious box on the roof of his car, question a suspicious young couple, deal with an astrologer who is driving recklessly and encounter a drunken cook shooting a rifle from the crow's nest of a docked ship.

Malloy and Reed patrol a neighborhood of Los Angeles inhabited by a large retired population. Calls include a purse snatching during which the suspect eluded capture, but was later found during routine patrol, an elderly man with multiple warrants for auto theft trying to break into a car in a church parking lot, a dispute between an elderly woman and man over her eviction and his offer to take her in (the woman is later arrested when she begins smashing 1-Adam-12's windshield with a baseball bat), a dispute over $5, a baby stroller rolling into a lake, and a retired policeman-turned-security guard named George who wants to talk shop, then assists in the suspects' arrest after a robbery, afterwards laments to the officers about being lonely due to all of his friends passing on.

Sgt. MacDonald reported his camper was broken into with three fishing rods and a pair of custom-made cowboy boots missing, and offers two free steak dinners for their return. The officers come across another man with the same "one of a kind" boots that Mac lost. Cases include Malloy, Reed, and Mac riding horseback to locate three suspects in a break-in at a stable, the station comes under sniper fire, and Officer Wells (showing his rarely-seen compassionate side) takes up a collection for a couple and their cancer-stricken daughter to get to San Francisco, later Wells finds out he's been had as the "couple" were well-known con artists with a long rap sheet.

Malloy has his eye on an attractive woman he's seeing all over town walking a scotty dog, which eventually turns out to be bad news for her. Meanwhile, he and Reed assist a police helicopter track down a young man riding his dirt bike in the hills illegally during fire season, search for an armed suspect who held up a movie theater before escaping on a motorcycle and coordinate with the police helicopter in a futile search for two armed robbery suspects who fatally shot a night watchman inside a department store.

Malloy and Reed have to break the news to a young model that her press agent lied when he said there would be nothing wrong with having a nude photo shoot on a busy public beach. Later, they discover a man stealing from a phone booth, assist in the chase of a stolen dune buggy, try help an attractive woman whose safety is put in grave danger by an obscene phone caller, deal with a wino who dies while eating at a diner and pull over a woman towing a large jack-o-lantern.

Today's patrol begins with a traffic stop of a high-society cat burglar who's just finished serving a four-year prison term, and Malloy senses the guy is about to return to his old ways. Meanwhile, he and Reed engage in a standoff with a wounded robbery suspect who fatally shot a convenience store worker, examine an abandoned vehicle, investigate the theft of a book from a library and deal with a distraught unemployed man who takes his young daughter hostage in his home.

Malloy returns from vacation sporting a mustache, prompting chuckles and guffaws from the squad. The officers then assist Air Ten in rescuing two people from an airplane crash. Reno West, a paroled thief, is suspected in the theft of some stamps from a mansion. A witness provides excellent descriptions of suspects involved in a jewelry store robbery. And a woman takes an alleged purse snatcher to the police station in her car rather than walk four miles to do so. Malloy shaves off the mustache when he has trouble trimming it.

A rookie cop with a "know-it-all" presents problems for the officers on the force, including Officer Wells, Malloy and Reed. Barrett bungles the arrest of a kooky but ultimately harmless elderly man suspected of holding up a bank. Later, a bomber has planted an explosive device inside a cereal box at a local grocery store, with the bomb set to go off within the hour.

Reno West's burglary reign continues, and the Captain orders it stopped at all costs. Other cases include having to divert a vicious guard dog so the officers can save a 70 year old man in a diabetic coma, investigate a theft of a rare jade statue from a mansion, and a domestic dispute between a couple where it appears the wife is the abuser.

There's a new dispatcher on today's day watch, and while Reed can't stand her voice, Malloy sees the situation much differently. On patrol, they search for a hit and run driver who left a small girl in serious condition, investigate a break-in at a synagogue, deal with a drunk woman who is searching for her daughter and become part of a SWAT team attempting to neutralize a sniper terrorizing the movie studio from which he was just fired.

Reed needs his TV repaired, and brings in his Boy Scout neighbor with a merit badge in electronics to work on it. Cases involve pursuing a juvenile on a souped-up minibike, a woman suspected of killing and burying her husband in the back yard, a robbery committed by a long haired woman in high heels, a picket line at a store resolved when the lead picketer found out she went on a "computer date" with the store manager and he lied about his occupation, and a report made on a robbery turned out to be made by the actual robbers.

While Reed is having his shoes fixed at the repair shop, the squeakiness of his replacement shoes is driving Malloy crazy. On patrol, they deal with a deranged homeowner destroying his own possessions, stop a cargo van whose driver misunderstands the meaning of double jeopardy, search for a young boy hiding in an industrial building about to be demolished and create a hostage situation after shooting a bank robber.

Reed and Malloy respond to a dispute in a park, where elderly woman Edna Digby (Lillian Bronson) tries to stop painter Andre Pochek from selling a painting that she considers indecent. To resolve the issue (due to the seller needing a new permit and being short on money) Malloy buys the painting and puts it in the back of the cruiser. It becomes a frequent topic of discussion despite Malloy's dislike for the painting, and when Malloy tries to sell it to another officer, the officer only buys the frame, leaving him with the painting. Calls include a man trying to retrieve a valuable coin from a toy dispenser, a potential "peeping tom" who is actually a city employee using a telescope to check meters to avoid dogs, a repo man trying to widen a door in a house he is trying to repossess furniture from, and an ex-football star-turned-robber who flees into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Malloy and Officer Woods return from a day of fishing smelling like fish...which is aggravated when a disoriented woman spills perfume in the back seat. Numerous trips to the police garage fail to get the smells out. Other incidents include a mute woman informing the officers someone had broken into a church, a kidnapping call that turns out to be a man picking up a drunk woman to take her home, and a boy whose bike was stolen by a big boy and was recovered when the boy's friends caught and held the big boy until the police arrived.

While on a quiet patrol, Reed decides to spend part of his lunch break doing business at his bank while Malloy waits in the patrol car. Unfortunately, he walks into the clutches of a pair of ruthless robbers who take him hostage.

Reed volunteers to write a profile on Malloy for the LAPD's magazine to honor his 10th anniversary on the force, but soon discovers he may be in over his head. Out on patrol, an apparent gas station armed robbery gets turned on its head when they question the parties after a long chase, a man goes to extreme lengths to get his neighbor's poodle to stop barking, a woman's plan to get her husband arrested backfires and a liquor store robbery suspect barricades himself inside a house's garage after a high-speed chase.

Reed is suffering from a wrist injury which puts him on desk duty, while Malloy has to break in a new rookie partner. Reed's day is far from routine as he has to handle a bomb threat that results in the evacuation of the station, Officer Brinkman accidentally discharges his shotgun twice, a young man wants to report misconduct by a police officer, an elderly man brings a shotgun into the station to drop off, Malloy brings in a group of children abandoned by their mother, and Malloy and his partner pursue a car into the police parking lot, where the suspects are arrested.

Malloy's brand new car gets dinged up when he has to bail out to chase down a purse snatcher, but Sgt. MacDonald promises him his kid brother in Beverly Hills can fix it on the cheap. Out on patrol, he and Reed search for a drunk man accused of randomly shooting arrows, respond to a robbery at a deli that results in tragedy and search for a drug store robbery suspect who gets away after being shot.

Malloy and Reed begin today's patrol by responding to a call of a drunken woman threatening the patrons of a bar with a handgun. Afterwards, they search for a group of four carjackers who go on a robbery spree after targeting a man with a cache of guns in his trunk, and investigate the suspicious death of a mentally disabled man.

Reed returns from an off-day with an uncomfortable full-body sunburn, which causes him problems throughout the watch. Calls include responding to a traffic accident, acting on a tip from an informant, busting a drug dealer working out of abandoned homes, searching for a robbery suspect based on a vehicle description, and assisting in the rescue of two boys when their boat capsizes.

Malloy and Reed are chosen to ride in Air-70 to observe how the LAPD's air patrol works. The chopper's cases include searching for two robbery suspects inside a high-rise building and tracking an escaping murder suspect.

Malloy and Reed take to separate helicopter units to continue their observations. The choppers assist in a stolen light plane from LAX by a distraught man, track two robbery suspects fleeing in separate cars, and assist in a nighttime house fire.

Malloy, Reed, and Officer Woods are assigned airport duty at LAX, now equipped with closed-circuit cameras, which were used to observe a burglary in progress and apprehend the suspects before they could leave. An argument over a suitcase resulted in the discovery of drugs, another dispute involving an Army soldier and another man uncovers a scheme where the civilian took Japanese Yen from the soldier. A ticket clerk that catches Malloy's eye informs him of a man who bought tickets from her previously under a different name, which results in the breakup of a credit card theft ring, a runaway is escorted to security until his mother can pick him up, and a silent alarm at a toll gate results in the capture of a robber who was holding a hostage. As a reward for breaking up the credit card theft ring, the company invites Malloy and the ticket clerk to lunch—Reed is invited too but Malloy pays Reed (a week's worth of lunches) NOT to join the couple on the lunch date.

A young boy, Greg Whitney, is arrested for a burglary attempt and is released to his mother's custody. However, it is later determined that Whitney had a record under another name and the man he was with was posing to be his father. After Whitney is arrested for fleeing a robbery he actually did not commit, Malloy takes him to a special police-sponsored camp for troubled youth. Other cases include an attempted robbery of a taxicab, and an accident involving an elderly man and a long-haired motorcycle rider.

Malloy goes to camp with Greg Whitney and a group of other boys, and due to his short height is told to bunk with the younger boys. Greg gets into trouble right away, accused of stealing ice cream and a watch from one of the other boys, but runs off before it was determined the watch was misplaced, and is found. Olympic gold-medalist pole vaulter Bob Seagren stops by to coach the boys on a cross-country race, which Greg wins, while Reed speaks with his mother about handling Greg in the future. Back on patrol, Reed and Officer Wells deal with a woman whose alleged attacker fainted when he discovered she had a python under her coat.

As part of a trial program, Malloy and Reed team with Motor Officer Grant to better combat crime. Out on patrol, they make a safety check at a residence, investigate a suspicious witness at the scene of a traffic accident, deal with a young member of a neighborhood watch, respond to an annoying complaint about illegally parked cars and perform a daylight stakeout to catch a serial burglar.

An 'officer needs help' call comes in with no callsign or location. The dispatcher starts a division wide radio "roll-call" in order to account for every officer on patrol. While the roll-call is going on, calls for service from the public still needs to be handled. When a motorcycle officer fails to check in when prompted, a division wide search is instituted to look for him, which Malloy & Reed are assigned to assist in.

Malloy tries to find a way to help a 60-year-old career criminal he arrested 10 years ago, who was recently released and begs to be re-arrested so he can spend his retirement years in the federal penitentiary. Meanwhile, he and Reed become suspicious while investigating an apparent home burglary, and later respond to a bank robbery in progress.

Sgt. MacDonald is unhappy about two things: his marriage and radio problems among the officers causing delays in response. Mac reaches out to Malloy about his wife opening an antique shop which is taking time away from him and the kids. Mac later realizes his situation during a call with an old married couple where the wife (whom the husband thought had run away) likes to go to the pizza parlor alone and listen to music, and the husband doesn't understand her need for some alone time. Other calls include a woman taken hostage by two robbers who head to the roof of a building; the suspects jump to a different roof but leave the hostage behind, and the robbers are apprehended with the help of Air Ten.

A serial rapist is on the loose. Malloy and Reed team up with Sgt. Gloria Tyler to teach self-defense techniques to a group of girls at a school near where the attacks have been occurring. Later, Tyler is used as bait to lure the rapist out, and he is captured after a pursuit. Other incidents include a home burglary involving a man whom the officers know and his nephew, and a shoplifter in a rain coat who escapes into a bar where he tries to be a stand-up comic.

Malloy and Reed search for a six-year-old girl in a red sweater who was kidnapped. Malloy finds the girl in a neighbor's house – the neighbor has kidnapped and raped the girl, and she is unconscious. The perp attempts to escape, Malloy catches him and loses his cool when the suspect claims that the girl was "asking for it." The suspect files excessive force charges against Malloy, which he admits to; he knows he will be punished by his old mentor, Capt. Moore which may derail his ambition to become sergeant. Moore gives Malloy a four-day suspension for his actions. Other calls include rescuing a man who got stuck in the storm drain system.

A burglar is on the loose, and the officers handle a call with a drunk who is nearly a dead-ringer for the burglar, later he ends up falling down at a bar where Officer Woods was handling a call regarding him. Other calls include looking for an antique stove an Asian woman gave away without knowing her husband had hid money inside it, getting an obese woman out of a phone booth, and a stakeout for the burglar mentioned at roll call resulting in his capture; during the pursuit, the charity truck that picked up the antique stove is located, and the money is returned to the family.

Reed's wife Jean is turned down for credit when purchasing a washer and Reed goes to the credit bureau to see why; the reason was that his name was confused with another James Reed with a different middle initial, and is cleared up. Other incidents include a hit-and-run accident, the victim gives a description and license number of the car that hit her, which is found with damage but the owner insists she was not involved; further investigation proves the owner right and they locate the real suspect, two boys that stole camping gear and later found when they were trying to hitchhike, and they arrest a liquor store owner in error while he was chasing the robbery suspect.

During their Christmas Eve Patrol, Malloy and Reed contemplate using their patrol car to deliver a Christmas tree to the residents of a soon-to-be-closed retirement home. Meanwhile, an elderly man's bagpipe playing is considered a public nuisance, a couple of teenagers steal a delivery truck containing radioactive material, a nervous man is desperate to cover up the smell of perfume on his clothing and an armed robbery suspect becomes intent on committing suicide-by-cop.

While paying a visit to the laundromat before going into work, Malloy encounters a man using the facilities to dry something much different from clothing. On patrol, he and Reed deal with a minister-in-training who uses a very unorthodox method to get his message across, try to reunite a Finnish-speaking child with her family, mediate a strange dispute between feuding neighbors and engage in a high-speed chase with a well known drug dealer.

Malloy and Reed investigate a large car theft operation that targets older cars, then stages them around the city as abandoned vehicles so they can be towed and scrapped. Meanwhile, they try to figure out why the son of Malloy's girlfriend is getting bad grades, search for a suspect who robbed an elderly woman and attempt to rescue two foolish teenagers who enter a house that is being fumigated.

The watch starts with an elderly woman whose TV was stolen and asks why nothing more is done for victims of crime. A silent alarm at a shop results in the owner being shot and critically injured; one suspect is caught, the other escapes when Reed has to save a baby in a runaway carriage. The shooting puts the family in a financial crunch, which can be helped with paperwork from a new program to help victims of violent crimes, but none are available. The officers question the bail bondsman to determine where the second suspect is, obtain the vehicle description and license number from a neighbor, then arrest him after pursuit in vehicle and foot. Another silent alarm finds young men robbing a drive-in, but their car stalls trying to get away. The forms for victims' families finally arrive and are provided to those that need them. Amy Milner, Martin Milner's daughter, appears in the episode as the shop owner's daughter.

Officer Woods' new partner is a nervous and quiet recruit, and the embarrassing secret he's trying to keep from his fellow officers might actually imperil them. On today's patrol, a real estate broker's well meaning but poorly thought out gesture nearly leads to a mob scene, a drug store owner discovers a way to profit from armed robbers and an armed robbery suspect opens fire during his escape attempt.

Malloy and his girlfriend Judy and Jim and Jean Reed agree to a double-date, before then the officers and Motor Officer Grant have to corral three runaway cows from an overturned truck, ticket a girl for unsafe bicycling who likes Malloy but thinks Reed is a grouch, and respond to a barfight which is really a pick-pocketing scheme. En route to the date, Reed spots a robbery in progress; he drops Jean off to call for uniformed assistance while he pursues and catches the suspect, causing him to rip his clothing and miss the date.

Malloy and Reed back up Officers Wells and Brady (who, like Wells, likes to "do things his own way") on a domestic dispute involving a husband with a gun. Calls include a dead body which turned out to be a girl playing with a mannequin, a man who likes to climb the sides of abandoned buildings, and a taxi driver who tips off the officers to an in-progress pawn shop burglary; they find the suspect working at a car wash and arrest him. The officers once again back up Wells and Brady on a prowler call where the homeowner comes out shooting. The four officers also hone their skills on the firing range in preparation for their monthly qualification.

Reed thinks he's got a great deal lined up on a used boat, but Malloy's convinced there's something fishy going on. While on patrol, they search for a man who sold a stolen horse to a riding academy, use an informant's tip to investigate a suspicious restaurant parking lot attendant and face an accusation of stealing a socialite's diamond ring during a burglary investigation.

Malloy and Reed are on the lookout for a traveling business man driving a green pinto, who called his wife in Nebraska and told her he was going to commit suicide at 2 PM. Meanwhile, they search for a woman who abandoned her newborn baby in a garbage can, and get a tip from an elderly woman about a group of car strippers.

Malloy is kidnapped leaving the station by a drug runner and his female accomplice, demanding her boyfriend be released from jail in exchange for Malloy. When the couple has Malloy contact the station to confirm his status, he reveals a clue about where they found a girl with a mannequin (a reference to the episode "Citizen With Gun"). Reed finds Malloy's car and a citizen gives a description of Malloy's kidnappers and their car, which Reed finds abandoned but he locates their hideout from case files, meanwhile Malloy manages to spill gasoline and ignites it, allowing Malloy to be rescued by Reed who notices the gunfire and smoke.

Malloy is filling in for Sgt. MacDonald as Watch Commander, so Reed rides with a new partner, Gus Corbin, an officer with nine months on the job, and they begin watch with a purse snatcher found inside a church confessional, then a break-in at a pharmacy leads to the real intention of the thieves—the next door pawn shop. Corbin defies Malloy's direct order not to search the pawn shop until backup arrives, which results in a dressing down by the acting Watch Commander, and the two suspects are captured. Finally, Corbin loses his gun during a foot pursuit and captures the suspect despite being unarmed.

Malloy continues his assignment as acting Watch Commander, so Reed is paired with Officer Dana Hall, while Officers Wells and Woods treat the new policewoman with the typical (for the 1970s) "not the woman's place" attitude, Reed treats her with respect and they go on patrol, where they encounter an underage DUI suspect with an uncooperative mother, locate and search a car stripping operation, and arrest numerous young people who riot at an outdoor rock concert.

Reed's bust of a drug dealer named Sparky was thrown out in court, and after Sgt. MacDonald offers him a chance to join the Vice squad for 30 days to gain experience, Reed volunteers, however the lifestyle and training cause a rift between him and Jean, and Reed quickly discovers how dirty Vice is; he's involved in a bust where a man wants to trade drugs for pictures of young boys, and the assignment is taking its toll on him. Malloy and Officer Woods team up to assist in the arrest of two drug dealers, but Malloy is shot and wounded during the bust and rescued by Reed.

Reed is awarded the Medal of Valor by the LAPD for rescuing a wounded Malloy from the shootout, and despite Jean's feelings about her husband's new assignment and about him taking the investigator's exam to become a Detective, she decides to attend the ceremony. Malloy and Reed reunite and handle cases; including a typing school B&E where both money and typewriters were suspected to be stolen, a suspicion confirmed by an assistant who allows the officers to freely check the typewriters; and a shootout in a warehouse full of mannequins with two young people.