A man and woman who are well off are returning to their building talking about trying for another baby soon as they pull into their parking garage. As they exit their car, shots ring out. The man is killed, his wife is wounded but survives. It looks like another case of "dead people are easier to rob" that was so rampant in the Big Apple pre mayor Giuliani performed by some common street criminal who has been paroled 23 times.
However, detectives Max Greevey (George Dzundza as the seasoned cop) and Mike Logan (Chris Noth as the young cop) think something is strange here, starting with the fact that the wounded widow tells the same story each time she is questioned - not so odd - but uses the exact same words each time. No just finding the shortest path between two points for these two. They run down leads, figure out what does not make sense, and do some poking around. They get their suspects.
Now it is prosecutor Ben Stone's turn to try to either get a satisfactory deal or a conviction, and he too is a masterful judge of character here.
This is not so much a "ripped from the headlines" issue episode here, although it is similar to another murder case from the year before. There are just no big social issues like there were in later episodes. It is just a good example of the cast of Law and Order solving and prosecuting a crime as old as the human race.
And then there is District Attorney Adam Schiff played by Steven Hill getting the last word as he did so well - "either that or she is two and she wants what she wants when she wants it."