A woman named Emily Newton is found dead in her apartment. Her death turns out to be suicide, but it's apparent that she had been mutilated with acid. Van Buren personally breaks the news to Emily's mother Christine, who is an old friend and former police partner of hers. Emily claimed she accidentally splashed drain cleaner on herself but the autopsy doesn't support this - someone attacked her. Van Buren is determined to prosecute the person responsible.
The detectives trace Jason Corley, Emily's boyfriend at the time of the attack. He has been charged with domestic assault many times but never prosecuted because the women were too scared to press charges. Corley smugly denies everything, but video footage from a hardware store shows him buying drain cleaner an hour before Emily was attacked. Van Buren also discovers that Corley's sent many threats to Emily's family, including her teenage sister Callie. He is arrested.
Christine identifies Corley in a lineup and says she saw him outside Emily's house on the day of the acid attack. But she then rescinds the identification, clearly afraid of Corley. At the initial Grand Jury hearing, Van Buren neglects to mention Christine changing her story. The defense is suspicious and requests Fontana give evidence too. Van Buren tells McCoy the truth and he and Branch discuss what to do, aware that Van Buren's actions could constitute perjury and destroy the case. She is forced to come clean and the lineup is excluded as evidence. McCoy and Borgia are left with no case and agree to dismiss the charges.
Van Buren convinces Corley's current girlfriend Justine to wear a wire in exchange for dropping vice charges against her. Justine screws up and makes Corley suspicious but at this point, Callie arrives. She attacks Corley and throws vinegar on him. He yells that he'll "burn" her like he did Emily - unaware that he's being recorded. He is arrested and accepts a plea rather than have Callie, Justine, and another woman he abused all testify against him. Callie isn't charged and Corley's lawyer, who has daughters of his own, declines to make a complaint against Van Buren.
This episode contains examples of:
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted - the acid attack left Emily with debilitating physical scars covering the right side of her face. The psychological scars are evident.
- Death by Disfigurement: Emily Newton, who committed suicide after being brutally attacked by acid and turning into an ostracized recluse.
- Gold Digger: Justine openly admits she's dating Corley for his money.
- It's Personal: Van Buren learns that her college friend/old partner's daughter is the victim and has a personal stake in seeing her attacker found and charged.
- Little Miss Badass: Callie Newton, Emily's kid sister, who is not only half Jason Corley's size in both height and weight, but charges into his apartment without warning, pours "acid" on him (really vinegar) and begins punching him. Even better, after all the dust settled, she wasn't charged.
- Never My Fault: After being duped into getting charged with Emily's attack/death, Jason immediately blames his defense attorney, in spite of his own sense of arrogance and supposed flaunting of his knowledge of the law that ultimately led to his downfall.
- Outliving One's Offspring: After the suicide of Emily, resulting from her disfigurement by Jason, her mother Christine is afraid of her other daughter being harmed by him, making her unwilling to cooperate with the law enforcement.
- Smug Snake: Emily's attacker, Jason Corley, who has evaded justice since the attack, is cocky to both detectives and Emily's family and even threatens to attack remaining daughter Callie.
