Leslie Nielsen is the guest star in the season-three opener of Streets of San Francisco. Nielsen is cast as Joe Landers, an alcoholic police officer whose drunken bungling has caused the death of his longtime partner. Going to desperate and dangerous lengths to cover up his negligence, Officer Landers ultimately proves to be no match for diligent homicide detectives Mike Stone (Karl Malden) and Steve Keller (Michael Douglas).

In retaliation for the death of his son, a big-time hoodlum hires an expert female assassin known as Sydney to murder the three thugs responsible. At the same time, SFPD detective Keller (Michael Douglas) becomes romantically involved with his attractive new neighbor (played by Douglas' then-girlfriend Brenda Vaccaro. In this case, the viewer is way ahead of the detective: Keller's sweetheart is none other than the elusive Sydney.

Bill Bixby guest stars as Charles Pine, a former government agent turned professional assassin. Hired by a group of fanatical right-wingers, Pine prepares to kill a Chinese diplomat visiting the U.S.--all the while keeping the woman in his life (Linda Marsh) from interfering with his sinister mission. Cast respectively as a retired military officer and a nurse are Andrew Duggan and Peggy McCay, who twelve years earlier had costarred in the ABC sitcom Room for One More.

In an acting tour de force that earned him critical acclaim back in 1974, John Davidson guest stars as professional female impersonator Ken Scott. The highlight of Scott's nightclub act is his dead-on imitation of legendary 1930s movie star Carol Marlowe. Unfortunately, the entertainer's schizophrenia overwhelms him, and soon he is carrying over his "Carol Marlowe" persona into real life--and murdering any man who is unlucky enough to be attracted to "Carol."

Someone in the SFPD must go undercover with a group of Vietnam war resisters to ferret out a murderer. Given a choice between middle-aged Mike Stone (Karl Malden) and youthful, shaggy-haired Steve Keller (Michael Douglas), the authorities opt for Keller. Posing as an anti-war activist, Keller tries to find out who killed a rather notorious Marine deserter...and why. Featured in the cast are two actors who'd essayed villainous Streets of San Francisco roles in the past, Don Stroud and Michael Burns.

The drab and lonely life of Martha Howard (Joanne Linville) suddenly becomes quite eventful--and dangerous. Martha has entered into an affair with Brian Downing (Edward Mulhare), a prominent, and married, British cabinet minister. At the same time, Downing's embittered wife (Pippa Scott) hires a hotheaded young man named Bobby Nelson (Steve Keats)--for the purpose of getting close to Martha, then murdering her.

Brock Peters plays the central figure in this story, a man charged by Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) with a murder that he didn't commit. Unfortunately, once he surrenders his fingerprints to the authorities, he will be exposed as the same person who ran away from a homicide investigation 25 years earlier. Also in the cast are a pre-stardom Dabney Coleman) and onetime Bonanza regular Mitch Vogel, here playing father and son, and future Lou Grant regular Robert Walden.

Surrounded by the authorities after a bungled attempt to break through a police checkpoint, five terrorists take several people hostage. Unless they are given safe passage out of San Francisco, the terrorists will detonate a bomb, killing themselves and their prisoners. Making the situation personal for investigating detective Mike Stone (Karl Malden) is that one of the hostages is his own partner Steve Keller (Michael Douglas).

Clint Howard (brother of Ron, and former star of TV's Gentle Ben is herein cast as Tommy Sanders, a troubled teenager whose parents are divorced. Befriending another teen named Paul Harris (David Gruner), Tommy is present when a bitter family fight breaks out--and is subsequently accused of shooting Paul's stepfather (Joseph Perry). Cast respectively as Tommy and Paul's mothers are two of Hollywood's finest and hardest-working character actresses, Marge Redmond and Mariette Hartley.

Mike Evans, who at the time this episode aired was also starring as Lionel on the CBS sitcom The Jeffersons, guest stars as Paul Hudson, a neurotic kid living in a tough ghetto neighborhood. After witnessing a murder, Paul promises to keep his mouth shut, providing that the killer find Paul a job with a notorious underworld organization. Will detectives Stone (Karl Malden) and Keller (Michael Douglas) be able to save Paul from his new "friends"--and from himself? Intriguingly, Berlinda Tolbert, who later costarred with Mike Evans on The Jeffersons as Lionel's wife Jenny, also shows up in this episode.