Councilman Wade spends the day exposing and exploiting the crack problem on the Hill; Grace Gardiner returns as Sister Charity and recruits Flaherty; Belker goes under in a seafood joint serving soul food to locate drug traffickers; Goldblume receives an offer to publish Steve Merkur's book; and the manpower shortage delays Buntz' loan shark arrest and costs him part of his finger.

Daniels pushes Furillo to drop the Wade investigation; a literary agent offers Goldblume a chance to write his memoirs; Sister Charity works her old magic on Flaherty; and Buntz ties up his loan sharking sting by busting the shylock that cut off his finger.