Goldblume is held hostage by the leader of a radical group. Belker gets some bad news while working undercover. Renko is given a backstage pass to see his favorite singer. Renko and LaRue bet on who can make it to work faster.

Calletano's bid to become Captain in another precinct is put in jeopardy when his predecessor has second thoughts about retirement. Norman Buntz is introduced as Calletano's replacement. Mayor Cleveland's son is picked up on drug charges. Garibaldi gets in deep with a bookmaker. Tataglia informs Belker that she might be pregnant.

LaRue and Washington try to find clues on the person responsible for assaulting Garibaldi, who remains in critical condition. Rumors abound about Hunter's new girlfriend. Mayor Cleveland's son remains on the loose. Furillo assembles a committee to investigate police corruption.

While undercover, Belker get trapped in a luggage compartment on a bus. Furillo grants immunity to a stolen parts dealer with information on the death of Captain Keenan, only to later regret that decision.

The final results of Furillo's corruption commission report place blame on Daniels. An angry Daniels responds by making an example of a night shift cop involved in the shooting of a promising teen and blaming Frank. A mentally unstable man is brought in for disturbing the peace while dressed up as Rambo. Buntz becomes involved in the hiring of another khaki officer.

Buntz catches a mugger who turns around and accuses him of police brutality. Washington is involved in a domestic dispute with near tragic results. Belker goes undercover as a vagrant to investigate the reason why many vagrants have fallen from high buildings recently.

Jablonski puts up his own money to catch a pair of crooks. Buntz accuses one of Calletano's men of dumping vagrants in the Hill Street Precinct. Belker gets in the middle of a family feud between two jewelry merchant brothers. Washington is discharged from the hospital.

Furillo angers Briscoe by pursuing a major drug king on a minor charge. Hill's father comes back to ask him for money. Jablonski tries to get in between a priest and a scrap metal dealer. Belker gets upset at Tataglia for being involved in a dangerous arrest while pregnant.

Buntz and Rodriguez are held hostage by a mental patient who wants revenge on Buntz for putting him away. Belker goes undercover at a dog pound. LaRue and Washington bring in a baseball player for drunk driving and find cocaine in his car trunk. Furillo is upset when he is denied mortgage insurance.

Christmas approaches, and the cops exercise for the Fireman vs Cops Olympics. Furillo and Joyce visit his family, and are rebuked for not having children. Buntz employs a "drug-sniffing" turkey. An apartment dweller believes the Blessed Virgin appears on his wall.

Tied up in his undercover case, Belker misses his wedding. A veteran cop is caught planting a gun on a dead suspect. A mugger steals a heart meant for transplant. LaRue tries to stay honest as he shops for the department's wedding gift for Belker.

Garfield insists Steger planted a gun on a dead suspect. Due to a strike, cops have to haul corpses to the morgue; Hill comes upon the body of his father. Bates's ex-beau Hopper complains to Coffey after she has a blowout in his studio.

A powerful consortium wants Furillo to run for mayor. LaRue is enamored with a very erotic snake-wielding fence, Terry Sylvestri. Famous singer Bobby Angel is arrested, and Renko invites him home but regrets the decision when the singer gets drunk and out of control. Belker finally marries Robin in City Hall. A bad fall down a flight of stairs makes Hunter believe he is a Cold War soldier. Increasingly unhinged, he hallucinates that the hapless Ballantine is a Soviet agent and disables and detains him, and also knocks out and ties up an unfortunate electrician. Finally Bates and Goldblume come to the rescue before Hunter can wreak serious damage on the two. A former co-worker, Tommy Donahue, from another precinct, persuades a reluctant Buntz, who feels indebted because Donahue caught a bullet meant for Buntz back when they were partners, to help him arrest a bookie to whom Donahue owes money. Donahue shakes down the bookie and goes from debtor to creditor. Buntz cuts his ties to his former partner over whose downward trajectory Buntz cannot seem to make any impact.

The station deals with a smoking ban. Chief Daniels offers to endorse Furillo as his replacement in return for a favor. LaRue pitches woo with a snake-loving tattooist who is working with him to bust thieves.

Goldblume's involvement in a neighborhood dispute leads to a tenant's suicide. A music video is filmed at Hill Street. Bates pays off Fabian's mother to assign guardianship. Belker busts a crooked parole officer who runs a car theft ring.

Capt. Furillo is shot on the courthouse steps, and Joyce recalls the details of their meeting and courtship. The shooter dons a cop uniform and stalks Frank in the hospital. Buntz tracks him down and they have a confrontation in a stairwell.

Frank convalesces at home. Fabian's mother tries to hit up Lucy for more money. Buntz appears on a court TV show. LaRue and Washington get in trouble when they botch a federal gun-running investigation.

Lucy frustrates everyone when she can't ID Coffey's killer. Belker has to deal with a gung-ho rent-a-cop at his undercover station. Jesus Martinez is busted on suspicion of bribery involving a judge.

Belker goes undercover in a lunchwagon. Jesus Martinez is wanted on suspicion of murder. A Polynesian man shows up saying he's the husband of Hunter's girlfriend. Golblume reluctantly considers selling his apartment house. A former khaki paramour of Buntz returns to proposition him, while his friend Tommy continues to behave suspiciously.

Bates' new partner is accused of sexually harassing a hooker. Ballantine is reinstated, but still crazy. Buntz' erstwhile friend tries to end him in a garage shootout.

Wachtel sentences a landlord to spend time in his dilapidated buildings, and Furillo finds Cleveland could benefit from an investigation into Donahue's death.

The precinct reaches a crisis point after Hill and Renko rescue an escaped mass murderer from a vigilante mob.