In the two-hour pilot-premiere, Jessie returns to her hometown after her divorce. Before she meets her new superiors at the local police department, she tackles her first case — a delicate hostage situation that produces a denunciation of her methods from a tough police lieutenant (series regular played by Tony Lo Bianco), a by-the-book lawman. Celeste Holm appears as Jessie's young-at-heart mother. Also stars William Lucking and David Michael Grant.
Jessie comes to the assistance of a battered wife while Ascoli is baffled by a box-office bandit who also steals his getaway cars.
Despite Jessie's warning that an undercover officer is under extreme stress, Ascoli refuses to pull her from a weapons trafficking case.
Molly is hurt in bombing. Their radical days in the Sixties come back to haunt two reformed members of the New Day Now trio. Jessie gets involved when a bomb blast, meant for a member of the group, hurts her mother.
Jessie tries to bring fire-injured police officer Pat McLaughlin out of his depression, but his wife likes him to be dependent on her.
King Raymond, a good cop with 25 years' experience, finally reaches his breaking point. Jessie helps avert a near tragedy when she recognizes that the only person who can help him is his ex-partner, Lieutenant Ascoli.
Ben Grant frames Cantwell, an innocent man, on a criminal charge in an attempt to gain a promotion. When Cantwell is later released on parole, he swears a terrible revenge on the policeman and his partner.
When Captain Harding suggests using a psychic to help solve a series of murders, Ascoli reluctantly agrees.
Eighty per cent of women cadets drop out of the Police Training Programme, and Jessie wants to know why.
Jessie helps April, a troubled young prostitute, who has turned to solicitation to escape her unhappy family life, to turn over a new leaf. In the process, she convinces the girl to cooperate with the police to identify a murderer.
Pat Buckley, a policeman's widow, turns to Ascoli for comfort, but Jessie learns a secret from the dead man's partner.
