Stabler recovers from a grievous injury while Captain Olivia Benson oversees both his recovery and the still unsolved case of the missing sex worker, Sad Eyes.
Stabler goes undercover as a big rig driver to expose an international smuggling ring; as he settles into his new identity, he gets to know the "working girls" and a pattern of disappearances emerges.
After an attack on one of Carisi’s trials, signs of a new player in the New York City gang scene drive Stabler to contact an old C.I. from Italy and question the motives of their current ones.