John Cullum

Frankie's dream of an idyllic family Thanksgiving is thwarted when Mr. Ehlert forces the staff to work on the holiday. Meanwhile, Frankie and Mike approve of a clueless Sue's first boyfriend – who turns out to be a safe choice – and a panicked Axl loses Brick in, a corn maze.

Mike begrudgingly invites his brother Rusty (guest star NORM MACDONALD), who is temporarily living in a tent, and his father Big Mike (guest star JOHN CULLUM), who has recently broken his hip, to join him for the annual Heck family Thanksgiving. But when Frankie observes the macho Heck men's non-communicative nature, she encourages a not-so-receptive Mike to engage them in a real conversation and express their feelings. Meanwhile, Brick is ecstatic when he discovers that Bob is bringing his girlfriend Lisa – the local librarian who loves books as much as Brick does – to Thanksgiving; and Sue wants to start a mother-daughter tradition of baking a pie for the holiday but ends up getting more sliced up than the crust.

Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) are called to a chaotic situation at a high school. Two star basketball players are found in the gym, stripped and shot to death, and what appears to be a third victim, Joe Blaine (Rory Culkin), is shot in the head. Joe recovers, and the detectives feverishly look for the shooter. Joe draws pictures and appears to be very agitated and mentally unstable. He draws a photo that matches the school janitor (who had access to the murder weapon) but he is too aged and not agile enough to have escaped through the window, the only way for the gunman to have left the gym. But Joe's mental state is a big factor and they realize from prints he is the gunman.

When a boy is lit on fire, Detectives Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) and John Munch (Richard Belzer) investigate the malicious crime. In search of a lead, the Detectives end up at Blessed Heart High School, where their student escort, Max Matarazzo (guest star Jesse McCartney) introduces them to the Blessed Heart Chastity Circle and senior Alec Bernardi (guest star Philip Ettinger). Alec admits to hurting the victim, but in turn opens a new door for the detectives when he unveils a group of pregnant teenage girls. A strange web of secrets and bad blood in this close-knit neighborhood offers a challenge for the detectives. Also starring Richard Belzer (Detective John Munch), Dann Florek (Captain Donald Cragen), Ice-T (Detective Odafin Tutuola), Michaela McManus (A.D.A Kim Greylek), Tamara Tunie (Dr. Melinda Warner), and B.D. Wong (Dr. George Huang).

As their 20th anniversary approaches, Frankie begins to think that Mike may be tiring of her company and is purposely trying to avoid her. Meanwhile, Sue frantically tries to coax Axl and Brick into helping her set up an anniversary party for their parents; and Brick falls into a non-responsive state when Axl tells him the ending of a book he's been waiting years to read.