The team investigates when young Carly Hunter disappears while walking home from school one day. While processing evidence found at the scene, Warner realises that the little girl has leukemia, and they need to get her home as soon as possible to begin treatment. Despite the ransom drop going wrong, the detectives are able to find the little girl thanks to evidence O'Halloran finds at the scene, but as she tells her story to Stabler and her mother, it soon becomes clear that her kidnapper is someone very close to home. Stabler and Warner end up becoming hostages when the kidnapper approaches Jake Hunter directly.

When a young woman finds a teenage boy asleep and naked in her bedroom, his mother, Bree Walsh, is quick to defend him. While Detective Benson and Detective Stabler try to figure out what truly happened, they also have to manage the sneaky teenager and his naive mother. As the detectives dig deeper, they discover how deceptive appearances can be.

Detective Benson calls on Bayard Ellis for legal help when her estranged brother gets caught in a child custody battle. Also, Detectives Tutuola and Rollins investigate why a newborn baby is abandoned near a hospital.