The episode opens with Quinn, the CEO of a location-based crime alert app, explaining the need for her app at an investor meeting.
While the meeting goes in her favor, Quinn is approached by a journalist who reveals he is working on an in-depth expose about the CEO and her app that would ruin her company.
After noticing the journalist's purebred dog, she plants fake fliers all around to make it seem like purebred dogs are being stolen from their owner by way of a cattle prod-wielding assailant.
Quinn then has one of her employees plant fake news alerts on the app warning people about these false puppy nappings.
On a night of a Zoom call meeting with her employees, Quinn begins a pre-recorded presentation while she sneaks away to the journalist's apartment.
She feigns interest in discussing the article about her, but when the journalist has his guard down, Quinn attacks with a prod and bludgeons him to death before dumping his dog in Central Park.
Officer Kaya and Detective Edwards are assigned the case along with Elsbeth.
After they notice some inconsistencies with the missing dogs, the crime alert app, and Quinn's alibi, Kaya and Elsbeth look into Quinn's past where they discover a former friend a business assosicate who was also the original creator of the app.
They learn the app is defective at accurately distinguishing between real and fake crime alerts.
The journalist's dog is found, which leads to the discovery of Quinn's headband at the crime scene, linking her to the night of the murder and leading to her arrest.
All the while, Captain Wagner is working with Elsbeth to find a way to prove his innocence in Lieutenant Noonan using his name to cover up the whistleblowing of a sweatshop.