Matthew Sussman

Tony busts Meadow for partying at his mother's old house. Meanwhile, Ritchie Aprile is out of the can after ten years and looking for action--much to the chagrin of a local pizza-shop owner.

Having dodged a legal bullet, Tony is advised by his lawyer to spend more time at his businesses. Junior looks for diversions to relieve the tedium of house arrest, and eventually finds one in the company of a police widow. Meanwhile, Melfi's problems boil over while eating dinner with her son.

In the Season Four premiere, Tony invests in a land deal despite Carmela's concerns about money.

A young Romanian girl, Alexis Campbell, who was adopted by an American family, lies near death after two cups of detergent are pumped from her stomach. Her seemingly normal family is upset, but her six-year-old sister Katie (Sloane Momsen) claims her mother tortured Alexis. Even though the family wanted to adopt Alexis, her mother, Karen (Cynthia Gibb), got pregnant with twins shortly after. A.D.A. Novak (Diane Neal) wants to prosecute Karen for murder, but Oliver Gates (Barry Bostwick), her defense attorney, doesn't want to allow Katie's testimony. Judge Oliver Taft (Tom Skerritt) makes it very difficult for Novak and agrees Katie should not be allowed to testify, but does agree to a bench trial. Stabler (Christopher Meloni) testifies and rips Judge Taft apart and "mouths off" on his way out. Judge Taft retaliates quickly, tossing Stabler in jail for contempt. Judge Taft finds Karen not guilty and Novak is furious, and wants Taft off the bench. Mary Conway Clark (Marlo Thomas) advises Novak to be careful, but Novak is determined to proceed.

When a wealthy publisher is murdered, the detectives investigate a young author for a link, but they soon believe the author does not exist and that the publisher was killed because he sensed a scam.