Tom Chaney and Rod Lambeau are recently partnered Homicide detectives in the NYPD. To some extent, they are both outsiders, Tom, to his colleagues, still supporting his crooked ex-partner who was and his only true friend on the force, and Rod who is openly gay. Their first cases are the separate murders of first Dean Harvey and then William Boxler, two men who were charged but not convicted of violent sexual assault. Both victims were poisoned - the cause of death - before their hair haphazardly shorn in what the detectives believe is some sort of ritualistic act. Beyond the M.O., one other common bond between the two victims is that they were tried by D.A. Katy Wesson, these two among her few losses. Katy's success as a D.A. is despite being deaf, her friend, Josh Kane, her interpreter and general protector. In seeing her in court and the passion with which she works, Tom and Rod have no choice but to place her at the top of their suspect list. Tom wants to get close to Katy if only to find out more about her for the investigation. Despite their initial antagonism in Katy knowing she is a suspect, Tom and Katy begin to fall for each other, and embark on a relationship. This relationship places Josh, Katy and Rod often at odds with each other, especially as Rod becomes more and more convinced that Katy is indeed their perpetrator with more and more evidence uncovered, while Josh goes out of his way to explain that evidence away, and Katy knows that she is still under investigation by the pair.