Grace asks Esterhaus for help with a barking dog; LaRue suffers a crisis of confidence about the PCP lab bust and starts drinking; Renko's family problems hurt his performance at work; Hill antagonizes everyone in his efforts to recruit for the BOC; Goldblume resorts to force to deal with landlord Sosa; and Furillo tries in vain to hold onto Walter Harmon for the death of Pam Gilliam.

The governor's dog is found; Eddie's role as an informant leaks out; Furillo tries to stop coroner Nydorf from testifying; and Crawford decides on his future course as a policeman.

The only witness to a massacre in a gay bar is an off duty cop; the Cisco Kid ties up traffic; and Goldblume offers to be Fay's natural childbirth coach.

Commander Ozzie Cleveland enters the mayoral race; Officer Perez accidentally shoots a little boy; Daniels begins ""Operation Tenderloin"" out of a sexual cafeteria; and Mahoney tries to make political capitol for Daniels out of a shooting.

A pair of sweet junkie lovers create a hostage situation; the Robson arrest blows up in Daniels' face; and Wachtel shows up at the Wonderland as Murray's lawyer.

On election day, Goldblume tries to keep a last minute candidate clear of the polling places; Mahoney turns on Daniels; Wachtel reports gangsters threatening to torch Murray's Wonderland; and Furillo tries to help Perez' family.

Bates and Coffey take over a storefront police/community relations project; a cop killer seems to be roaming the streets; Daryl Ann buys the wrong motorcycle for Renko; Joyce behaves oddly about buying a house; Leo and Ray try out an unorthodox method to get rid of the rats; and Daniels tries to short circuit Cleveland's corruption task force by exposing a network within the special Vice detail.

The rats return; Esterhaus is hospitalized for tests; Bates, Coffey and Joyce try to protect a woman and her children from her abusive husband; the latest cop killing looks to be a hired gun copying the random killer; and the corruption investigation strikes close to Hill Street; Hill Street gets word of the murder of Marty Nichols.

Furillo loses an old friend as the corruption investigation winds up; a romantic triangle transfers to the Hill and comes to a boil; and Coffey gets shot by the cop killer.

Sergeant Esterhaus dies unexpectedly and the whole station house tries to deal with their grief as they eulogize the man. Meanwhile, Leo finds out his wife is cheating on him; Bates may get a unique promotion; Mrs. Furillo is mistakenly arrested for soliciting by a rookie; Sandy is raped.

Goldblume is fascinated by a call girl held on murder charges whose elite clientele has newspapers bidding for her story and her fearful clients threatening her life. Also, tributes to Esterhaus continue to roll in.

A judge intent on elevating jail conditions releases the court's overflow back into the streets; Bates has a rocky start as roll call sergeant; another professional hit covers up the murder of Whitney Barnes; after his memorial service, Furillo follows Esterhaus' last wishes to scatter his ashes on the Hill.

Goldblume and Calletano try to figure out station command as Furillo tries to resist taking a drink; LaRue and Washington dog William Mullins to protect Joyce; and Renko finds he has similar problems to Jesus Martinez.

Garibaldi tries to save himself some money by doing some unofficial police work for a guy whose car he rearended; Belker is left exposed on his latest undercover by agents from another agency; and the mayor's gang appointee to the Youth Commission comes under fire for favoritism.

Belker's loan sharks commandeer a prison bus and demand him in exchange for their hostages; Goldblume tries an unusual video-dating service; Renko has second thoughts as his wedding approaches while Coffey ""invests"" the wedding present money.