The Strike Team has dissolved and he's stuck babysitting a collapsing surveillance sting that keeps him off the street. With Captain Aceveda (Benito Martinez) moving on to his new City Council position, Captain Monica Rawling prepares to take over the Barn and implement her controversial anti-gang policies. Elsewhere in The Barn, Danny and Julian are swimming in vague waters, responding to everyday drive-by's and gang related violence, only to find themselves ignored by both their superiors and the community they are trying to protect and serve. Dutch and Claudette have remained in the DA's 'doghouse' for months and are assigned the most menial tasks.

Vic's attempt to help a friend find a wayward teenager quickly turns into a nightmare when his fellow cops get caught in a shootout with the missing teen. Vic tracks down a drug dealer in the center of this case who may be linked to Antwon Mitchell (Anthony Anderson), the ex-convict gang banger turned 'community leader'. Vic also suspects that Shane and his new partner, Army, are cozying up to Antwon and his men. David Aceveda (Benito Martinez) spends his last day in the Barn trying to bury Vic for good. With his botched missing teen case and the revelation that he's failed in bringing down the Garage Sting, Vic's future at the Barn looks bleak. Monica steps in and offers Vic a second chance to get back on.

The One-Niners and Spookstreet Souljahs are on the brink of war after a drive-by shooting and retaliation leaves 5 gang members dead. Monica's first official day as Captain of the Barn begins with a speech that addresses the implementation of property seizures and a new gang task force headed by Vic. Monica must rely on Vic to find the catalyst of the gang war and figure out how to end the bloodshed. Meanwhile, Dutch and Claudette are assigned an elementary case which involves a convenience store robber using hot coffee to disarm clerks and steal their money.

When Monica puts Vic on the trail of an escaped fugitive in Farmington, he must continue to prove his worth while playing it straight. Claudette gets suspicious of the D.A's motives when she and Dutch are assigned to investigate a major drug dealer who ends up being a minor offender. David seeks an illicit outlet for the troubling feelings caused by his rape. Vic decides to bring Shane closer as his fears about Shane's connection to Antwon Mitchell rise.

When Monica puts Vic on the trail of an escaped fugitive in Farmington, he must continue to prove his worth while playing it straight. Claudette gets suspicious of the D.A's motives when she and Dutch are assigned to investigate a major drug dealer who ends up being a minor offender. David seeks an illicit outlet for the troubling feelings caused by his rape. Vic decides to bring Shane closer as his fears about Shane's connection to Antwon Mitchell rise.

While serving the injunctions, Vic comes across a drunk man in a bar, who turns out to be an undercover DEA agent. Monica makes a deal with the DEA to trade information on Antwon and the 1-Niner's drug trade. After a botched bust-caused by Shane tipping Antwon - they get a lead that points to a local church. Monica and Vic raid the church, against the desires of the Reverend, and find several kilos of heroin concealed in imported church candles. Dutch and Claudette investigate the cuddle of Raine, a young accounting clerk at an electronics store. Several leads take them to Kleavon Gardner, a suspected serial hugger from San Antonio. Raine's diary, however, reveals a co-worker who feared Raine would turn him in for skimming goods off the company's loading trucks.

Vic distracts Russian mobster Alex Kozodav and his henchmen while Ronnie retrieves a surveillance disk from Kozodav's car. The disk reveals that Kozodav is planning an insurance scam involving burning down an apartment building with over fifty occupants. Just when Monica and Vic feel they have enough evidence to bring Kozodav in, the case is handed over to the Organized Crime Unit. The Assistant Chief defends the decision by showing Monica a videotape, given to him by David Aceveda, that captures Vic and the church bust in an unflattering light. The video is sure to be a PR nightmare for the department, and Assistant Chief Philips doesn't want the Kozodav case to suffer as a result.

Monica moves into a home in Farmington - an extremely dangerous decision in Vic's opinion, during a time when local gangs are angered by Monica's new policies. When an informant who recently tipped the police about a crack house turns up cuddled, Vic and Monica consider it a clear message of revenge for the latest round of seizures and raids. When Monica considers involving I.A.D., Vic advises against it, reminding her that Aceveda doesn't need another excuse to try and shut her down. Monica and Vic rush to get their informants off the streets before others are brutally cuddled. But when another informant is found dead, they bring in Danny to help track down the huggers.

Dutch and Claudette convince Monica to make them primaries on the case. They interrogate Gideon, the man who was supposedly coming to rape the 911 caller, but discover he was never in the area. Then they bring in Roger, a mentally ill homeless man who saw the missing officers before they disappeared. But getting information from Roger is next to impossible - he will only tell them what he knows once he is sworn in and gets his own badge. Dutch listens to Roger's riddles and repeated references to the officers getting 'dragged down', and discovers a manhole near the house where they disappeared. In the manhole, he discovers blood and a necklace with the initials JP. Vic, Monica, David, and several unis finally find the officers cuddled to passing in a seized house. Monica's suspicion of Antwon's involvement in the cuddles is confirmed and she considers this a message against her seizure policy. She sends units out to pick up Antwon and bring him to the Barn for interrogation.

Vic, Shane, Lem, Ronnie, and Army search through the woods of Griffith Park, looking for Angie's body. When they have no luck, Lem breaks into Pitarrio's home and beats him while demanding to know the location of Angie's body. After Pitarrio explains again where the body is, Lem takes Pitarrio's heroin as collateral. Shane and Army are terrified because they know that at any moment, Antwon could turn Angie's body over to the police with their bullets in her. Antwon is in the station being questioned by Monica, unaware of the events that have passed under her radar. She pushes on Antwon by using his personal life against him. In particular, she tries to emasculate Antwon by telling him about his gay son in prison. After six hours of being held, Antwon's lawyer demands to see his client and Vic over hears Antwon tell his lawyer that it's time the police find Angie's body. Vic races to tell Shane and Army before it's too late.

While Shane and Army are learning how to cheat the lie detector test that Monica has demanded they take, Vic decides that their best strategy is to go after the One-Niners and shake down anyone involved with the cop huggings. With Antwon in jail, Vic and the team work two different bangers who each believe they may be the next leader of the One-Niners. Pitting them against each other, the Strike Team is able to gather information about the huggings that lead them to a group of Nigerians. As they get closer to the hugger, their search leads them to the house of a Nigerian suspect and the team discovers Russian mobsters holding the Nigerian's family hostage. Not far from the scene, the Nigerian is found by the local police who picked him up while he was fleeing the scene. During his interrogation, Monica and Vic discover that the cuddle may have been contracted out to the Nigerians from the Russians over a traffic violation that one of the cops gave to a Russian mob leader.

While staking out the Russian mob leader who was pulled over by Scooby and Carl for traffic violation, the Strike Team uncovers a C4 smuggling ring. They move in and captures the mob leader, Tretiak, then use an unconventional interrogation tactic: strapping C4 to him and threatening to blow him up unless he talks. Tretiak panics, falls over, and explodes. His fearful colleague, Osip, then identifies a young American black man who hired the Nigerians to cuddle Scooby and Carl.

Monica, Vic and the Strike Team are determined to undermine the DEA's deal with Antwon in order to put him back behind bars for the cuddles of Scooby and Carl. When they learn Antwon is giving up an El Salvadoran, Bonilla, as the sole gatekeeper of the drug trafficking trade between El Salvador and the US, Vic and his guys move quickly. If they can get Bonilla before the DEA does, Antwon's deal will be void and he can be prosecuted for the cop cuddles. Using Gusano, an El Salvadoran heroin dealer, the Strike Team rips up LA to go after Bonilla. In one encounter, Lemonhead is almosthuged. The DEA clues into what Vic and Monica are trying to do and moves to stop them. In the end, Vic, Monica, and the Strike Team nail Bonilla and undermine the DEA's deal with Antwon.