Detective John Traveller (Peter Coyote) is convicted of the murder of his wife and her lover. His partner and friend, Detective Matthew Ransom, becomes very upset, affecting his marriage that was not working well. The lover of John's wife was the son of Luke Williams, a detective of the same department, and he does not accept the death of his son. After the trial and conviction of John, Matthew separates from his wife Mary Ramson, being sexually arrested by John's daughter Jude. Meanwhile, a serial killer kills the enemies of John, leaving clues in the crime scenes relatives to Sherlock Holmes tales and Matthew suspects of Jude.

Michael and Janie are a pair of young grad students living together on a quiet college campus. One day, Janie discovers that Michael has been cheating on her. She walks out on him, only to come back the next day to find him dead of a gunshot wound. The police suspect Janie, but the evidence seems to implicate Janie's friend, Frankie. Somehow, Janie must find a way to prove herself innocent while still protecting her friend.

Innocent, sexy Allyson leaves her boyfriend Peter to go to acting classes in Los Angeles. In Los Angeles she rents a room in an apartment building from the grumpy Mr. Merry next to the resident working girl, Bridget. During the day Allyson struggles with her acting lessons at arrogant Eric Constantine's acting school whilst at night she plays with herself as she watches beautiful, confident Bridget through the keyhole servicing her clients. In class she meets professional photographer Jerry who offers to shoot her a portfolio.

When Danielle decides to do a story on the life of a sex worker to please her boss and lover Peter, she meets Gage a professional gigolo. She quickly becomes interested in his work and starts to see a change in herself and her life.

Swarthy Paul Yeager arrives in New Orleans, and promptly gets a job bartending at La Cage du Verre, a show bar where his former girlfriend Jacqueline is a dancer and the moll of its sadistic owner, Marko. He and Jacqueline smuggle diamonds and drugs, with the local police detective in on the take. Even though Paul is ex-CIA, he's not undercover, he just wants to win Jacqueline back. His CIA pals from black ops are on hand hoping to arrest Marko's boss. Detective Montrachet finds out Paul's past and sets up a double cross. Her aims are less clear: to get back with Paul, to stay with Marko, or to run her own scam and scamper away?