Michigan detective LaCrosse and his team in the Major Crimes unit investigate the death of Julie Novak, a young woman left on a snowy front lawn after a college party, posed as a snow angel. The investigators enter the house party the morning after the young woman’s death to find teens and college students groggy and in varying states of sobriety after a wild party. They take Derek Patel, the young woman’s date to the party, into custody. They enter the second floor of the house, a luxurious sex room with multiple beds, a pornographic DVD collection, and an assortment of sex toys. When they enter, they find the door to the sex room has been broken in. The disabled teenage son of the family who owns the mansion, Joey Champlin, confronts the investigators, telling them his parents don’t allow guests in the room—he tells the investigators to leave. Zina finds the remnants of date rape drug capsules in the punch from the party. At the station the investigators meet with Derek Patel’s father, who is the family doctor of the Champlin family who owns the house where the young woman died.  When Julie Novak’s father, a broke logger who worked with LaCrosse back in the day, arrives on the scene he beats Derek Patel in a rage; but his anger is misplaced. In a meeting at a local inn, Detective LaCrosse learns from the local district attorney and his team that the Champlin’s disabled teenage son spiked the non-alcoholic punch with his parent’s date rape drugs—which are actually attainable as prescription sleeping medication—kept in their sex room. The disabled teenage son has difficulty with impulse control, and only spiked the punch in anger after his sister ordered him to go to bed early. Thus, Julie Novak’s death by hypothermia outside was an accident. The DA team attempts to facilitate an off-the-record settlement of $200,000 between the wealthy Champlin family for their negligence and the Novak family because pressing charges against the Champlins might endanger the accreditation process of a local junior college the Champlins have been working on. Julie Novak’s father agrees to the settlement—the only caveat is that Novak is kept in the dark about the circumstances of his daughter’s death. Months later, the junior college successfully becomes an accredited institution; but Derek Patel goes missing. His mangled remains are found in a coyote den. LaCrosse immediately suspects that Novak ordered the hit on the innocent Patel without knowing that Novak’s daughter’s death was due to negligence. LaCrosse confronts Novak, who confesses to ordering a local white supremacist to kill Patel. LaCrosse confronts the white supremacist alone in order to arrest him peacefully. The white supremacist attacks LaCrosse and attempts to flee before LaCrosse kills him. LaCrosse reflects on the meaning of justice while walking through a busy commercial district. He sees the statue of an angel guarding a war memorial, which reminds him of Julie Novak, the snow angel.