Da Vinci and Fire Marshal Sid Fleming investigate a massive house fire which claimed the lives of two children and their mother. The sole survivor of the fire is the father/husband of the deceased, Glen Moorehouse, he who suffered severe burns. The troubling aspect is that Moorehouse is a survivor of another remarkably similar house fire five years earlier, where his first wife and their children died. Tragic coincidence or...? Equally troubling for Da Vinci is that Morris Steadman is on the scene, still grieving and still angry. Elsewhere, Leary and Shannon are working on the kidnapping case of Alice Meisner, whose father, Ed Meisner, is a wealthy lumber magnate. Alice and Ed have somewhat of a strained relationship due to her drug use, but Ed never denied her anything. The ransom drop, monitored undercover by Leary and Shannon, doesn't go according to plan. Even before locating Alice's car which provides some evidence of the kidnappers, the authorities suspect that Alice herself may be part of staging her own kidnapping. Ultimately, "a big whiff of a real bad smell" lead the authorities to Alice. Meanwhile, Rose Williams makes it known that she'd like to be promoted to Homicide, which doesn't sit well with Shannon. And Sue tells Kosmo of a new "business relationship of convenience" she has with a dirty vice cop named Brian - whose badge she stole - who has an equally dirty narc cop friend named Joe. Kosmo wants this information under wraps until she investigates.
—Huggo