 There is a drive-by shooting in the Bottoms that almost hits Ned, an African-American youth. Parker Williams and Luann Corbin investigate and find an abandoned biracial infant boy in the house. Luann is attracted to the infant, and child welfare worker Lilly Baker asks her to take the boy for a few days until permanent foster care can be arranged. Chief Hampton Forbes questions slumlord Barton Stone about the wretched condition of the house and threatens to begin proceedings to take the property from him. Stone is killed. The investigation turns up the infant s Caucasian mother, Cassie Green, who accuses Ned of being the father of her child, Rocket. Luann becomes increasingly more attached to Rocket and is distressed that child welfare policy favors returning abandoned children to their natural parents.