Dominic Da Vinci hosts a big city mayors' conference that is upset when he and one of his guests become key witnesses and possible suspects in a murder after a political soire and private sex-party that followed. Da Vinci is pulled further into the investigation when event hosts, media magnate Charles Greenborne and his wife Katherine, engineer an elaborate cover-up along with their associates, including the consummate professional fixer, Jean Tellier.
In his first week as mayor, Da Vinci must deal with an apparent gay-bashing death; squatters in an abandoned department store; and a local tycoon upset over losing a city contract. Kosmo and Finn investigate the police shooting of a recovering mental patient. Leary links two missing aboriginal boys to skeletal remains found in the woods.
A war of words heats up between Da Vinci and Police Chief Jacobs over a police shooting at a halfway house. Zack goes undercover with a group of squatters. Leary uncovers a suspected pedophile ring preying on aboriginal boys.
Da Vinci gives the go-ahead to establish the Red Light zone despite the opposition of Chief Jacobs and community groups. Ferris and her cohorts plan another grow-op bust only to find their target cleared out. Finn and Kosmo investigate the drive-by shooting of a teacher on his way to school. Detective Carter gets a lead in the gay-bashing case.
Things are finally going Da Vinci's way: the newly established Red Light zone is operating smoothly; both Lloyd Manning and Roger Woo are interested in buying the racetrack; the homeless squatters have moved to Crab Park; and one of the candidates for the police chief job assures Da Vinci of the viability of cross-training fire and police.
Da Vinci and Chief Jacobs negotiate a tenuous compromise on the level of police cooperation with the Crab Park squat, the Red Light zone, and the Fire Department initiative of posting notices on grow houses. But when a grow-op raid goes tragically wrong, the police circle the wagons to protect their own.
Da Vinci must defuse an impending war between the city's most powerful unions when the Police suggest that a Fire Department inspection notice tipped off a grow operator to an impending raid, causing an officer's death. Leary's investigation of a pedophile ring leads to a prominent developer and an old nemesis.
Da Vinci schemes to placate Chief Jacobs with an offer of more police officers, paid for by slot machine revenues. The Crab Park squat is threatened by a massive development plan and by Zack's discovery that Friedland may not be who he seems. Kosmo and Finn join Leary on the pedophile case, but the investigation stalls when two key witnesses suddenly stop talking.
Da Vinci is confronted with the prospect of an all-out union war when a police investigation determines that Fire and Rescue may have contributed to an officer's death. Berger and Rita scramble to line up support for the crucial slots vote. The pedophile case is complicated by the involvement of Brian Curtis and the keen interest of Chief Jacobs.
On the eve of the Prime Minister's visit, Da Vinci scrambles to line up support for the crucial slots vote and calm emotions raised by an investigation into the police instigated by the fire department. Curtis brings Leary a witness who suggests that Dubreau's pedophile ring is still active, but the case is complicated when Chief Jacobs calls for an early arrest.
A murder at the red light zone prompts calls for its closure and a lawsuit against the city. When the Complaint Commissioner is frustrated by a lack of cooperation from the police, Da Vinci starts gathering evidence against Chief Jacobs. Zack and Friedland confront one another over their mutual deceptions. The high school girl implicated in the gay-bashing death blames two adult men for the crime.
When the grow-op shooting inquiry returns an inconclusive verdict, the firemen wage a protest. Da Vinci himself is investigated by the Solicitor General. Pedophile suspect Dubreau is tipped off to his impending arrest, prompting Leary to raid the Century Club. Manning confronts Da Vinci with proof that a competitor bribed a City Councillor to win an ad contract.
A crisis looms at City Hall when the police and fire unions unite against cross-training, and investigators search the Mayor's offices for evidence that Da Vinci over-stepped his authority in his dealings with Chief Jacobs. Klotchko maneuvers to cover his tracks in the grow-op shooting. Brian Curtis encourages the witnesses testifying against Dubreau to leave the country.
Da Vinci scrambles to prevent a war between the police and fire unions when rumours emerge of a cover-up in the grow-op shooting case. But his grip on the city is undermined by bad press, opposition from the Solicitor General, and defections on City Council. Jacobs and Klotchko scheme to neutralize an increasingly unstable Jan Ferris.
