Briscoe and Curtis investigate the suspicious death of a baby girl, Mariana Waring. Her parents, who'd recently adopted her, are arrested on suspicion of abusing their other child Nicholas. But tape recorded evidence shows Nicholas to have very serious behavioral problems which include violent rages. When the Warings adopted him, they were unaware of his condition or his history of severe abuse. Nicholas admits to attacking Mariana, but the autopsy not only shows that she'd already died from a metabolic disorder an hour or so previously, but that she was much older than the Warings believed.
The new ADA Abbie Carmichael discovers that a Mr. and Mrs. Connery had previously adopted Mariana, but a month later, they arranged for a broker to give her to the Warings under a false identity. The Connerys adopted Mariana from an agency that places Russian children with American parents. The agency employs Dr. Andre Kostov to sign legal documents confirming the children are healthy, when in fact most of them have serious illnesses or disabilities. McCoy ultimately decides to charge both the Connerys and Kostov with murder.
At trial, Kostov says he was just trying to save lives by sending sick children to parents abroad, and that the Connerys treated Mariana like a defective consumer product. In turn, Mrs. Connery testifies that she didn't find out about Mariana's illness until after the adoption, and Kostov refused to help. The Connerys couldn't afford her medical care, so they gave her to the broker and lied that Mariana was healthy. Carmichael convinces McCoy and Schiff not to offer any of the defendants a plea deal. Nevertheless, all three are found guilty of manslaughter but not murder.
This episode contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Nicholas was originally put up for adoption because of the severe physical and sexual abuse his birth family had subjected him to.
- Dead Person Impersonation: The Connerys used a dead child's birth certificate to pass off Mariana as a healthy American child.
- Death of a Child:
- Mariana's death at the beginning of the episode.
- The Connerys had sent her for adoption under the identity of an other baby, who had died at the age of 3 months.
- Department of Child Disservices: Invoked by Carmichael who says that, given the extensive history of mistakes made by children's services (often with fatal results), the fact that they found nothing wrong doesn't mean the Warings are fit parents.
- Diplomatic Impunity: Kostov lies that he has this and is a diplomat working with the World Health Orgaization. But Carmichael's already looked into his background and knows that this isn't true.
- Enfant Terrible: Nicholas, an angelic-looking seven-year-old boy, is capable of severe violence and apparently killed the family dog.
- Establishing Character Moment: An interesting example with Abbie Carmichael. The viewers see that despite her tactics and occasionally harsh attitude, she pushes to have Nicholas arrested because she suspects that he assaulted an infant (correctly, although it turns out not to have been the cause of the infant's death), and she researches Nicholas's background and speaks to Skoda before she does so. At the end of the day, she takes the actions she takes because she genuinely believes that it's not safe for Nicholas to go without the proper treatment for his issues lest he hurt someone else someday. All of this occurs before she meets Jack McCoy, however, so to him it looks like she's throwing seven-year-olds in lockup and trampling over people's civil rights without even checking with him first.
- Ethnic Menial Labor: The Warings' Latina nanny, whom they threatened with deportation if she told anyone about Nicholas.
- Halfway Plot Switch: The first half of the episode is about the investigation into Nicholas' background and whether he killed Mariana. The second half is about the case against Kostov and the Connerys.
- Hanging Judge: Subverted. Carmichael, who always pushes for the harshest possible sentence, has already got on the bad side of several more lenient judges.
- Happily Adopted: Deconstructed; while Nicholas Waring's parents genuinely love him and are doing the best they can, they're also not equipped to deal with the sheer amount of psychological damage he has.
- Lack of Empathy: Nicholas, due to his history of horrific abuse.
- Never My Fault: Kostov and the Connerys make excuses and point fingers.
- Older Than They Look: The Warings believed Mariana to be a year old, when in fact she was almost three; she looked much younger because of illness and malnutrition.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Mrs. Connery says that her parents were devistated over the death of her big brother.
- The Sociopath: Nicholas Waring is one, and Carmichael and Skoda both agree he's a future Serial Killer in the making.
- Too Much Alike: McCoy and Carmichael initially butt heads a little because they approach prosecution in very similar ways, although they hash it out pretty quickly.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Nicholas is very violent, killed a dog and beat his baby sister (not knowing she was already dead.)
