A woman is killed in a locked room, and her daughter Susan confesses to the murder after apparently becoming possessed by the spirit of her long-dead younger brother. The Chief enlists a psychic to help him in his investigations, but the clues that she offers him seem to confuse more than they assist.
The Chief links his case with a psychiatrist, who turns out to be a psychopath with a passion for brainwashing. Before he can get his evidence together, however, Fran is taken as the next victim of the doctor's peculiar brand of therapy, and is programmed to kill Ironside. Meanwhile Susan has to face past guilt over the death of her brother before she can be safe from herself.
Mark and his girlfriend come across a murder whilst on a date, but decide to defend the killer when it transpires that he acted in self defence. During the case the pair get married, and Ed decides to move in with the Chief in Mark's place.
When somebody takes pot shots at Fran's hot-headed cop boyfriend, he soon comes under suspicion for a handful of assaults and two murders. All the trouble seems to be linked back to a case he investigated with his one-time partner, now turned private eye; but is it a case of cop-turned-bad, or is it something else?
When Ed returns from a holiday he finds the Chief missing, and a series of obscure clues pointing to the suggestion that he has been kidnapped. In truth Ironside has been waylaid by an old enemy, a mobster seeking his help to solve a murder, but a gang war is brewing and the Chief needs his team to find him in time to stop it erupting unchecked.
A series of murders appear to be connected to an old friend of the Chief's, an ageing woman from San Francisco's old rich set; and when the murders are linked to her debutante's ball and she appears to be exhibiting signs of deteriorating mental health, the odds look stacked against her. As always, though, the Chief looks elsewhere to find the truth.
The Chief's god-daughter witnesses a murder whilst performing in a street-side harlequin show. On the run from the murderer, she and her boyfriend remain one jump ahead of Ironside's team; but there is an added dimension to the case which the Chief cannot at first hope to guess at, and a further reason for his god-daughter's desperate flight.
A convict awaiting parole hears that his son has been shot dead following a clash with a rival teenage gang. Although eager for vengeance he has another son to think about, and the Chief is determined to keep them both on the straight and narrow, whilst at the same time finding out who really killed the boy.
After the killing of one of his men, gangland boss Lew Parker puts out a contract on Ironside, which the undercover Ed is forced to pick up. Unable to contact the rest of the team Ed has to go along with the preparations for a heist, but when his cover is blown and he winds up a prisoner, the Chief and co must find the missing links before it is too late.
Peter Justin, a gentleman jewel thief and old adversary of the Chief's, returns from a five year stretch in San Quentin and is soon back to his old life. When a protégé frames him for a robbery and murder charge the Chief has to prove him innocent, despite his knowledge that another recent robbery is most definitely the work of Justin alone.
A friend of Ed's becomes the target of an assassin, but cannot shed any light on the reasons for the attempt on his life. When Ed discovers that his friend is a priest, prevented from speaking by the bounds of confession, he and the Chief attempt to discover the truth; which soon leads them to three unexplained murders amongst the city's drug dealers.
A retired assassin kills the son of a mob chief, and tries to escape town after anonymously leaving his own young son in the care of Chief Ironside. The Chief soon puts two and two together, and figures out who the boy is; but he still has to find the father, before a major league gangster out for revenge can get to him first.
A British police inspector visits San Francisco for a conference, and whilst there assists his old friend Chief Ironside with an awkward investigation. It soon appears, however, that he knows more about the case than he should do, and that his involvement may have something to do with his deteriorating state of health.
Ed befriends the daughter of the judge presiding over his latest case, only for the girl to come to him in fear for her father's life. It seems she is overreacting to a series of accidents, but events soon suggest her suspicions may be correct; especially after it turns out that her father's new wife has old Underworld connections she thought she had left behind.
Ed befriends the daughter of the judge presiding over his latest case, only for the girl to come to him in fear for her father's life. It seems she is overreacting to a series of accidents, but events soon suggest her suspicions may be correct; especially after it turns out that her father's new wife has old Underworld connections she thought she had left behind.
