A popular college student named Kathy McKenna is murdered. Briscoe and Logan investigate her ex-boyfriend Paul Crandall, who was known to be possessive of her. Paul, an activist for the Deaf, was upset that Kathy (also Deaf) had left him for a hearing man; and opposed her decision to have a cochlear implant. Print-outs from Kathy's text phone show that on the night she died, she'd received threats from Paul's number. He is arrested, but expert analysis of the threats suggests he didn't make them - a hearing person did.
Stone and Robinette now take a look at Dr. Gordon Bryce, the founder of the Bryce Institute: a charitable foundation for the Deaf. Kathy had taken speech therapy there as a child and was now the vice-president of the Institute. Bryce expected her to stay on after graduation, but she had plans to move to California instead. Bryce's alibi for the time of the murder is that he'd gone to see his PA, Marcia Hendrix, for her to approve a large check donated to the school. The DAs find that not only is there evidence of embezzlement, but just before Kathy died, Bryce had demoted her and replaced her with Hendrix.
In the face of murder charges, Hendrix agrees to testify against Bryce in exchange for immunity. She produces extensive records of Bryce's correspondence with Kathy, including the threats that appeared to have been from Paul. Bryce's lawyer is Stone's old nemesis Arthur Gold, who insists Hendrix fabricated the records. But when Bryce is confronted with the fact that there's also forensic evidence against him, he accepts a plea for manslaughter to protect the Bryce Institute's reputation. He felt that Kathy was indebted to him for helping her as a child, and she'd betrayed him by planning to move to California. Stone is preparing to do battle with Gold, who is confident of getting Bryce's sentence drastically reduced on appeal.
This episode contains examples of:
- Halfway Plot Switch: One half of the episode focuses on the investigation into Paul, and the second half on Bryce.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Stone posits that Hendrix saw Kathy as a rival for Bryce's affections.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Mr. and Mrs. McKenna show up after their daughter's murder.
- Porn Stash: Briscoe finds one when searching through the garbage for Kathy's text phone records.
- Put on a Bus: This was the last episode Dann Florek (Cragen) and Richard Brooks (Robinette) appeared on as regular cast members, though Cragen would later make guest appearances on the show (and become a regular on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), while Robinette would become a defense attorney and also make guest appearances on the show.
- The Social Expert: Logan comments on the victim's very active social life.
- Woman Scorned: Gold tries to portray Hendrix as this.
