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Cagney has just received a gift from her latest boyfriend, a man no one at the precinct has met yet. Lacey gets a strange phone call from a woman who claims she is being beaten by her husband. The woman wants to know what would happen to her if she turned in the man. Before Lacey can refer her to social services, the woman hangs up.

Cagney and Lacey are assigned to the investigation of a suspected con man. Ed Ruskin has convinced several old ladies to invest in his real estate deals. At first they received checks regularly, but now the payments have stopped. The ladies fear the man is about to run off with their money. Cagney and Lacey contact two detectives at the Fraud Investigation Department, Mick Solomon and Brent Nelson. Cagney offers to meet Ed Ruskin, posing as the daughter of a concerned investor. The investment counselor refuses to show any books, but assures her that all investments are safe.

Next, Cagney has a strange favor to ask of Lacey. Could Mary Beth read Love's Savage Harvest, a romance novel written by a friend of Cagney's and give her opinion about it? Nelson and Solomon warn Cagney and Lacey that Ruskin is on his way to the airport. Is he going to flee the country with the money? To their surprise they witness him actually picking up someone at the terminal.

The mysterious woman phones up Lacey again. She adds two elements to her story: her wife-beating husband is a cop and she has bought a gun to defend herself. Like the last time, she hangs up before Lacey can get any details, but the detective feels it necessary to inform Samuels. He advises caution. Lacey does some further research and discovers that the woman asked the operator for Mary Beth Lacey. This means that the husband must be a cop Lacey knows. Checking the records of those who bought a gun recently could turn up the name of the woman.

Ed Ruskin travels to the airport once more, but this time he tries to leave. The detectives stop him, search his luggage and cannot find the million dollars he is suspected of smuggling out of the country.

The gun records give Lacey the name she needed: Phyllis Nelson, the wife of Lacey's old friend Brent Nelson. Cagney and Lacey visit the Nelson house, ostensibly to consult Brent, who is home sick. They see Phyllis hiding her eyes behind large sunglasses. The woman denies ever having accused her husband of doing anything wrong.

Frustrated by this, Lacey discusses the matter with Harvey and Cagney. Harvey can't believe a woman would stay with an abusive husband, Cagney admits to having had aggressive boyfriends, and hiding the problem.

An informant at the prison tells the detectives that Ruskin is bragging about the million dollars he kept from the police. Apparently, the money was right under their noses at the arrest. The detectives search Ruskin's luggage once more. It's only when Cagney mentions a gift she got from her boyfriend, an antique piece of jewelry, that they realize Ruskin's rings might be more valuable than they seem. An expert confirms their suspicions: the rings are worth a fortune.

Mick Solomon phones Cagney and Lacey to warn them that Brent Nelson got very drunk earlier that day. Cagney and Lacey rush to Nelson's house. They can just stop Phyllis from shooting her abusive husband. When they arrange a stay at a shelter for Phyllis, Brent gets even angrier and turns up at Lacey's house late at night, loud and drunk. This convinces Lacey that she has to report him to Internal Affairs.

Cagney introduces Lacey to her mysterious boyfriend. He is none other than Brianna Dumaine, the author of Love's Savage Harvest. (Real name: Joe Klotzman.)