The investigation into the attempted kidnapping of a six year old girl uncovers a fertility doctor's scheme to steal embryos, and prompts a custody battle between the child's biological and birth mothers.

As Benson and Stabler investigate the disappearance of a mother and her teenaged daughter, they uncover a conspiracy between a corrupt immigration attorney and gangsters running a prostitution ring that is staffed by women they have smuggled into the country and imprisoned as sex slaves.

With the encouragement of a radio host, who has a dirty mouth on him, one teenager is raped and another is imprisoned when they are thrown together by the manipulative adults in their lives whose sole motivations are celebrity and publicity for their own self-serving interests.

The entire squad races against the clock to solve the puzzles and uncover the clues scattered throughout the city by a serial killer who is taunting them to find him and the next victims on his list.

A missing teenager found beaten and tied up in a college dormitory under construction claims that she was raped by three students, but as the investigation proceeds and information obtained by the police and the press causes her story to unravel quickly, the girl recants. Since Benson remains convinced that a rape did occur, the focus of the investigation shifts to the girl's overly-protective stepfather who has resisted the investigation from its onset.

The detectives and the district attorney get played first by the teenage murderer of a young boy, and then by the victim's father, who uses his professional expertise to escape punishment for avenging his son's death.

A career con artist, forger and thief turns to murder and serial pedophilia to populate the cult he created and to get his hands on a multi-million dollar trust fund. The detectives have trouble getting any leads because no one in the cult is saying anything, not even their names.

When a college student claims rape and her professor claims it was consensual sex, Stabler and Benson find themselves in the middle of a he said, she said battle, trying to decide whether to believe the alleged victim, or the alleged perpetrator who claimed she liked it rough. Benson sides with Myra, the victim, whereas Stabler finds himself wondering if Polikoff is telling the truth about being innocent, especially after Myra falsely accuses Stabler of touching her inappropriately. After giving more thought to the situation, Benson and Stabler each wonder if the other is right. Stabler has bigger problems on his hands, though, as Myra's attorney reveals that Kathy has moved out and taken the children.