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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.