Police are called to a horrific scene where a teenager named Cesar Ramirez was burned to death. Cesar attended a charter school called Sunrise Academy. The last person to see him alive was Moses Dolan, a younger boy Cesar was tutoring to pass the Sunrise entrance tests. Moses says that Cesar had a run-in with boys from Aaron Burr High, the local public school. Lupo and Bernard's investigation at Aaron Burr uncovers a video of Cesar's murder.
Evidence from the video points to four boys: Edison Tredwell, Marvin Coyne, Andy Mews, and Moses' older brother Abel Dolan. A girl in the video could be their classmate Jolie Henderson. She is popular with the boys in her class, who did not take kindly to her friendship with Cesar. Ms. Woodside, the principal of Aaron Burr, gives all the suspects an alibi. When Lupo and Bernard find out that Moses called in an anonymous tip about the suspects, he tries to pass it off as a lie. But the detectives believe he was telling the truth.
Before they can question Jolie further, she is violently beaten and gang-raped. She refuses to speak to police, but a search of her house turns up Abel Dolan's scorched sweatshirt. It then becomes apparent that Ms. Woodside has manipulated hundreds of students' grades and test scores, including the four suspects. Even when subject to a formal investigation into her grade-tampering, she continues to give the boys an alibi.
Cutter surmises she told the boys the police wanted to speak to Jolie, and now she feels guilty over Jolie's rape. So he has Woodside brought before a Grand Jury. She still denies the boys did anything wrong. On the stand she complains that charter schools get all the praise and public funding, while her equally deserving students are left to struggle. Jolie tells the Grand Jury that Abel was jealous of Moses' friendship with Cesar. Moses is likely to be accepted at Sunrise Academy, and then he and Abel would drift even further apart.
Since Abel has been excluded as a suspect in the rape, the detectives ask Woodside for help in getting his confession. With Abel's co-operation, Moses can claim a large reward that will pay for his college education. Woodside agrees to speak to Abel, and he confesses that he and his friends killed Cesar. Moses gets the reward money, while Abel and the other boys accept pleas.
- The Ace: Cesar was a model student with some of the best English scores in the state. He also tutored prospective Sunrise students and engaged in extensive voluntary work.
- Chekhov's Gun: It is mentioned early in the episode that Sunrise Academy's benefactors put up a reward for information leading to a conviction. Abel ultimately confesses so that the money goes to Moses and his future college tuition.
- Putting the "Pal" in Principal: Woodside is friendly with all her students because she sees them as unfairly rejected by the school system.
- Rape as Drama: Jolie's rape is treated this way.
- Ripped from the Headlines:
- The murders of Derrion Albert and Michael Brewer.
- The 2009 Atlanta public schools cheating scandal.
- Snuff Film: This is Bernard's term for the video of Cesar's murder.
- Successful Sibling Syndrome: Abel is deeply hurt that while he's had to struggle all his life, the naturally smart Moses will be able to go to Sunrise and on to college.
- Too Dumb to Live: For most of the episode, Ms. Woodside constantly obstructs and obfuscates the investigation, to the point that it becomes so blitheringly obvious that she's up to no good. Even when outted for having committed a long line of felonies in tampering grade scores to make Aaron Burr High look better, she refuses to rat on the boys involved until absolutely pushed to the brink on the matter. She only makes up for it at the very end by finally listening to the detectives, personally approaching Abel and getting him to confess where he otherwise wouldn't have.
