It seems like just another day in the park for Janet Novak (Nicole Sullivan) and her playful group of foster children ... until her toddler Tommy goes missing. The police rush in to search for the child and soon find the boy safe and sound, but with a little surprise in hand -- he's carrying a human finger! Realizing Tommy is too young to tell them where he found it, Captain Stottlemeyer locks down the park and begins searching for a body. When the police don't find anything, Stottlemeyer calls on Adrian Monk to put the pieces together.

Natalie is running for the school board in an effort to keep Julie's school from being closed. She's set up her office in an abandoned storefront, and she has a crew of supporters helping her with signs, mailings, and phone calls. Suddenly, shots ring out, and the office is riddled with bullets. Monk, Stottlemeyer, and Disher go to a nearby rooftop, where they find a dead security guard and a note from the sniper that demands that Natalie withdraw from the race.

Millionaire Las Vegas casino owner Daniel Thorn (James Brolin) is leaving for a fundraising benefit with his beautiful wife, Sheryl, when tragedy strikes. Sheryl's trademark scarf gets caught in the doors of Thorn's private elevator, strangling her and breaking her neck. The authorities classify the death as an accident. Captain Stottlemeyer is in Las Vegas for a bachelor party at the same time as the death. He suspects Sheryl Thorn was murdered, and calls on Monk to investigate. When Monk arrives, Stottlemeyer is too hung over from partying the night before to remember the incriminating evidence he discovered against Thorn, so Monk has to start from scratch.

Its dawn at a construction site, and Ray Galardi, a tough-looking gangster, is meeting with Steve Marriot, an environmental activist. Galardi wants Marriot to withdraw a lawsuit that's holding up Galardi's plans for a strip mall. When Marriot refuses, Galardi smashes him in the head with a lead pipe, killing him. Later that day, Natalie is driving Monk and Julie down the highway on their way back from one of Julie's field hockey games. A truck cuts Natalie off, and Monk reports it to the trucking company. Minutes later, Natalie is passed by a dump truck driven by the killer, Ray Galardi.

When Monk witnesses a Chinese gang murder, he becomes a federal witness under the protective custody of old friend Agent Grooms. Grooms takes Monk, along with Natalie and Captain Stottlemeyer, to a remote FBI cabin in the woods. On the way to the hideaway, they meet Martin and Kathy Willowby, who live in a cabin not far from the one where Monk is staying. Meanwhile, back in San Francisco, Lieutenant Disher is dating a beautiful Chinese woman named Hayley. They begin frequenting Hayley's favorite Chinese restaurant together, and at the end of every meal they always have fortune cookies. Soon, something strange starts to happen: the fortunes in Lieutenant Disher's cookies begin to come true!

When author John Ricca wrote his controversial tell-all biography of deceased Kung Fu movie star Sonny Chow, he knew some people wouldn't be happy. What he hadn't counted on was being killed for writing it -- let alone by Sonny Chow himself. Baffled by the idea that someone who has been dead for six years could have committed a murder, Captain Stottlemeyer calls Monk on the case.

Single mom Natalie Teeger (Traylor Howard) hears a noise in the middle of the night. She checks on her daughter, Julie, and then goes to her living room. An intruder lunges at her out of the darkness, and a vicious struggle ensues. In desperation, Natalie grabs a scissors and stabs the intruder, killing him. Captain Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Disher arrive to investigate the case. It turns out Natalie had another intruder in her house a couple of days earlier: a man posing as a water meter reader who looked around her living room and took off. Nobody can figure out what the crooks were after, so Captain Stottlemeyer recommends that Natalie contact Monk.

Captain Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Disher are making a routine arrest when a mysterious man in a car drives up and shoots at them, wounding Stottlemeyer. With Stottlemeyer in the hospital, Monk joins Disher in an intense investigation. Their prime suspect is the man Stottlemeyer and Disher were trying to arrest at the time of the shooting, a biker who was attempting to skip bail. When Monk and Disher try to apprehend the biker, Monk's obsessive-compulsive disorder allows the suspect to escape. Consumed with guilt, Monk goes to Dr. Kroger (Stanley Kamel) for help. Dr. Kroger gives Monk some pills that help people with O.C.D., and Monk reluctantly tries them. The pills work, and soon Monk becomes a completely different person. He's more relaxed, and his fears and phobias seem to be gone. But despite the benefits, there's one key cost: Monk has lost his ability to solve crime.

With Sharona out of town visiting her ailing mother, Monk has been left in the care of his annoying former neighbor, Kevin Dorfman. As Monk is forced to deal with Kevin's antics, there's a knock on the door. To his astonishment, it's Dwight Ellison, the father of his late wife, Trudy. Ellison is an executive overseeing a popular game show called "Treasure Chest." He's convinced the current champion is cheating, so he asks Monk to come to Los Angeles to help him figure out what's going on. Monk and Dwight head to L.A., with Kevin in tow.

It's almost dawn at a suburban "Mega-Mart" retail store, and the store's best employee, Edna Coruthers, arrives early for work. There's a note telling her to go to the loading dock, and when she gets there, a forklift rumbles toward her, knocking over a stack of TV sets. Poor Edna is crushed and killed. Captain Stottlemeyer and Lieutenant Disher investigate, and the case appears to be a routine industrial accident. But the store's security manager suspects foul play and calls Monk to the scene. It turns out the security manager is Joe Christie, Monk's ex-partner who was kicked off the force years ago for stealing drugs from an evidence room. Christie shows Monk some evidence, but Monk refuses to work with his crooked ex-partner.