McNulty (Dominic West) is assigned to a team of outcasts assigned to probe drug lord Avon Barksdale's (Wood Harris) operations.
A witness who testified against D'Angelo is found murdered; Greggs is briefed on the Barksdale probe.
Detectives' inquiries spark a minor riot, causing a boy to lose an eye and giving police a black eye publicity-wise.
Freamon and Greggs move to the homicide unit; Cutty gets a job at Tilghman school; Bubbles gives Sherrod an ultimatum to get back in school.
Rawls' demands create strange allies; Wallace and D'Angelo wrestle with their consciences; Omar turns witness.