In a continuation of the internal investigation into the psyches of the Special Victims Unit staff, the focus turns to two detectives -- one who wants to seduce and one who wants to destroy some of the shady characters they encounter on the job. Meanwhile, Detective Stabler's (Christopher Meloni) home and work lives blur horrifically when his daughter Maureen (Erin Broderick) witnesses a gory crime scene as she accompanies her father in discovering the burning dead body of an analyst for a major defense contractor. While ambitious new Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March) pursues the uncooperative employers of the victim, and his missing ward, with equal fervor, Detective Odafin Fin Tutuola (Ice-t) transfers to the Special Victims Unit from Narcotics to join in the investigation. Mariska Hargitay, Dann Florek, Richard Belzer and Michelle Hurd also star.

When the daughter of an Afghan diplomat is found brutally beaten with evidence of sexual assault, Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) find that her family had already disowned her for attempting to assimilate into Western society. As the detectives learn of the ancient practice of honor killing, they wonder if the politically charged family could be motivated enough to end their defiant daughter's life. Dann Florek, Richard Belzer, Michelle Hurd and Stephanie March also star.

When Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) learn of a rape with a familiar M.O., they are convinced that Kenneth Cleary (guest star Neil Maffin), the unconvicted rape suspect from the Harper Anderson case, is back in action. As they investigate, the detectives find that Anderson (Emmy-nominated guest star Tracy Pollan) has been doing some sleuthing of her own and is more determined than ever to bring her assailant to justice, with or without the aid of the Special Victims Unit. Dann Florek, Richard Belzer, Ice-T and Stephanie March also star.

As mother blames father and father blames step-father for the abuse of a seven-year-old girl, Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) have to consider that any member of her embattled extended family -- including her step-brother, mother, and grandmother -- could be responsible for the child's comatose condition, even as they each claim to have been trying to protect her from each other. Detective Munch (Richard Belzer) takes a special interest in the case, as he recalls another child betrayed by those closest to her. Dann Florek, Ice-T and Stephanie March also star.

Racial tensions mount when a Hispanic seven-year-old boy shoots to death a young African-American schoolmate and while the frightened child is kept in custody as a flight risk, Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) discover a new twist in their investigation -- the murder weapon was previously used for an unsolved slaying. However, after a suspect in the first murder is killed, the investigators finally gain a foothold in the case when they learn the truth behind the boy's suspicious sketches of a violent shooting. Richard Belzer, Dann Florek, Ice-T and Stephanie March also star.

When a female psychiatric doctoral student is found raped and murdered and an unidentified man stabbed in a neighborhood market, several of her counseling patients are pursued as suspects. One patient had been stalking the murder victim, and another had her support in refusing to take medications that caused severe side effects. Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) and Detectives Munch (Richard Belzer) and Tutuola (Ice-T) offer varying opinions regarding mandating medication as they follow all leads and discover that the stabbing victim (guest star Danny Mastogiorio) may not be revealing everything he witnessed at the crime scene. Dann Florek and Stephanie March also star.

When Detectives Benson and Stabler (Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni) are called to a domestic violence scene, they are surprised to find that the accused is a fellow police officer (guest star Nestor Serrano), whose wife (guest star Amy Carlson, Falcone, Another World) is charging him with rape. But the wife's motives are questioned as her history of violence toward her husband is brought to light. Meanwhile, Detective Jefferies (Michelle Hurd), still undergoing psychiatric evaluation from the Morris Commission, ponders her future with the Special Victims Unit. Dann Florek, Richard Belzer, Ice-T and Stephanie March also star.

When a 17-year-old woman (guest star Jenna Miller) is raped during the gala opening of a high profile hotel, her brother and sister-in-law are eager to help the hoteliers keep the scandal hush-hush as they prepare to sue them for millions. Though a former sex offender is arrested for the crime, Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) continue to dig into the backgrounds of the strange family and their convenient witness. Meanwhile, Benson must deal with some upsetting news about her mother. Dann Florek, Richard Belzer, Ice-T, and Stephanie March also star.

When a young gymnast is found dead, her world-renowned coach (guest star Philip Casnoff, Sinatra) becomes a prime suspect as the rigorous demands he makes of his students are discovered. Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) soon find that the girls also vie for the attention of a wealthy benefactor (guest star Armand Schultz) whose interest in the young athletes does not appear to be purely philanthropic. But it may be that the girls themselves are their own harshest enemies as they push themselves to the physical and mental limits of training and competition. Dann Florek, Richard Belzer, Ice-T, and Stephanie March also star.

When a college student, Kelly D'Leah (guest star Tammy Blanchard), is found on campus unconscious, with evidence of sexual assault and no memory of the night before, Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) must determine what events led to the young woman's apparent rape. Lab results indicating that, along with alcohol, the drug GHB (which reduces inhibitions and erases memory) was in her system point the investigation toward Kelly's drinking companions from the prior night--two frat boys who may have been pursuing her attention and two sorority sisters who paint Kelly to be the campus flirt. As the college administration steps in to keep the matter under their jurisdiction, the detectives find that this is not the first time they have attempted to protect their students, not from attacks, but from criminal prosecution. Dann Florek, Richard Belzer, Ice-T and Stephanie March also star.

After the son of two popular singers dies by running into oncoming traffic, his mother Ricki Austin (guest star Christine Andreas) claims that her son was fleeing from a child molester. But when forensics uncovers signs of emotional and not physical trauma in the boy, Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) suspect that the hands-off approach to parenting employed by the two touring pop stars may have taken a fatal toll on their son, and may be responsible for their daughter Ashley's (guest star Hayden Panettiere) escalating self-destructive behavior as well. Dann Florek, Richard Belzer, Ice-T, and Stephanie March also star.

When a highly respected teacher is found raped and murdered, her high school students and fellow teachers mourn the loss of a gifted educator. But when Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) find a nude picture of the woman in one of her student's homes, they have to question just what types of knowledge she was imparting to her students. As more is learned of the victim's voracious appetite for sex, the more difficulty A.D.A. Cabot (Stephanie March) has in gaining an indictment against a man who was just one of many of the dead woman's sexual partners. Dann Florek, Richard Belzer, and Ice-T also star.

When former sex-crimes cop-turned-community activist Sam Winfield (guest star Eric Roberts, Oscar nominee for Runaway Train) becomes a suspect in the murders of recently paroled rapists whom he has warned neighborhoods about, Detective Stabler (Christopher Meloni) is torn between upholding the law and identifying with Winfield's intent to protect the innocent from known sex offenders. As more is learned about the murder victims, it is discovered that the dead men have other dangerous details in common in addition to their criminal pasts which may have provided motive for their murders--and which may have horrifying implications for someone involved in the investigation. Mariska Hargitay, Dann Florek, Richard Belzer, Ice-T and Stephanie March also star.

When veteran police sergeant Karen Smythe (guest star Khandi Alexander, NBC's ER, The Corner) is raped while responding to a crime in progress, Detective Benson (Mariska Hargitay) is quick to come to the aid of the woman who was her mentor during her rookie days in the Special Victims Unit. Benson and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) find that Smythe's ex-husband's gambling debts may have been the motive for her assault, though the growing interest of the Internal Affairs Bureau casts suspicion on all of the officers connected to Smythe. Dann Florek, Richard Belzer, Ice-T and Stephanie March also star.

When a 7-year-old girl escapes her kidnapper and rapist, Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) begin an ardent search for the suspect. But when another girl is abducted under similar circumstances, the details of the two kidnappings indicate that both are the work of a serial rapist-murderer who kills his victims on the third day of their captivity. So begins a race against the clock as the Special Victims Unit has just 72 hours to rescue the latest victim from certain death. Dann Florek, Richard Belzer, Ice-T and Stephanie March also star.

A Brooklyn police officer holds hostage an internet reporter (guest star Sean Nelson), who may have information regarding the whereabouts of his runaway daughter Jill (guest star Kelly Kerbacz). Though the officer is arrested for the siege, Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) pledge to take over his search. As they explore the website that had posted a recent picture of Jill, they are led to an underground rave culture that caters to teen runaways--and exploits their youth and desperation. Darrell Hammond guest-stars as a lawyer whose clients include a drug dealer and a bizarre gallery owner who both seem to have connections to the missing girl. Richard Belzer, Stephanie March, Ice-T, and Michelle Hurd also star.

When a young man, Tommy Dowd (guest star Eddie Cahill, Friends, Felicity), is beaten during a rendezvous with an older woman at a hotel, Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) soon find that this incident is just one of a string of such beatings, some of them fatal. All of the victims are discovered to be male escorts whose employer Leslie DeSantis (guest star Patricia Kalember Sisters, thirtysomething) comes under scrutiny for sending her staff on dates with potential murderers--and may herself have reason to want some of the escorts dead. Dann Florek, Richard Belzer, Ice-T and Stephanie March also star.

When a young woman, Annie Tassler (guest star Meg Hartig), is abducted, Detective Munch (Richard Belzer) finds the details of the crime to be similar to those of a series of brutal rapes and murders he unsuccessfully investigated the previous year. He and Detective Tutuola (Ice-T) are tipped off by two witnesses to the kidnapping, and are led upstate in hopes of rescuing Annie before the Bowery Stalker adds to his list of murder victims. A.D.A. Cabot (Stephanie March) is eager to help bring the killer into custody so that she may pursue a harsh conviction. Christopher Meloni, Mariska Hargitay and Dann Florek also star.

When the remains of a young woman are found buried in an apartment courtyard with a collar and leash, Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) determine that the dead woman is Ava Parulis, a Romanian immigrant who was brought to the United States for an arranged marriage. They discover from Ava's estranged twin, Irina (guest star Mili Avital, Arabian Nights), that the dead woman had left her abusive husband, and made a habit of taking advantage of the riches of wealthy suitors. But when it becomes apparent that Ava may be impersonating Irina, the twins' relationships with the matchmaker who brought them to the United States (guest star Michelle Pawk), as well as with a Romanian diplomat (guest star Victor Steinbach), and the former abusive husband, may lead to the truth behind the identity crisis and the motive for murder. Dann Florek, Richard Belzer, Ice-T and Stephanie March also star.

When the head of personnel at a software company is found raped and stabbed to death, Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) suspect that a fired employee may have sought a violent revenge. With the aid of FBI psychiatrist George Huang (guest star B. D. Wong, Oz), they focus on Jason Mayberry (guest star Chad Lowe, Melrose Place, Life Goes On) a former security guard at the company and son of the wealthy Grace Mayberry (guest star Margot Kidder, Superman). Jason's shy yet cunning personality and bizarre obsessions may reveal a horrifying motive for the murder. Dann Florek, Richard Belzer, Ice-T and Stephanie March also star.

When a serial killer commits four brutal murders in 24 hours, Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Munch (Richard Belzer) and Fin (Ice-T) canvass the streets searching for signs of a madman who exclaims paranoid and twisted religious rhetoric while committing his crimes. Once suspect Daniel Varney (guest star Richard Thomas, Wonder Boys, The Waltons) is in custody, Benson wades through his religious justifications with the help of his distraught wife (guest star Karen Allen, Raiders of the Lost Ark,), who provides key information with profound implications for A.D.A. Cabot's (Stephanie March) case. Meanwhile, Stabler's (Christopher Meloni) efforts to coordinate the case, and Benson's deft questioning of Varney, do not go unnoticed by Captain Cragen (Dann Florek).