Sergeant Ed Brown's fiancée was murdered years ago, and Tom Dayton (Bill Bixby) was convicted of the crime. Now, after only 7 years, he is paroled. Insanely (well, it *is* San Francisco) no one seems to have a problem with this, but Ed is convinced that Dayton will assault &/or kill another woman in future.
In what I found a truly amazing opening scene, the lawyer for the convicted killer of Ed's fiancée brings said murderer Dayton to Ironside's office. Dayton, out on parole now, wants to apologize. The lawyer chastises Ed for not being "forgiving" or welcoming the murderer of his beloved fiancee with open arms!
Then Ed goes to talk to the psychiatrist whose report helped convince the board to decide to grant Dayton parole. Asked about Dayton's prognosis, the psychiatrist (who has diagnosed him as a "sociopath" and "a psychopathically aggressive dependent" {!!!} said they've fixed things because, since he has a problem with women bosses, they got him a job with a male boss! Of course the first thing that happens is a situation similar to that which led to Ed's fiancee's murder: His "male boss" has an emergency at home, so a female supervisor for another department comes to fill in. It comes to her attention (again, like with the 1st woman boss), that he was doing a lousy job, and she, too, took him to task for it. Voila! Another woman violently assaulted.
But Dayton has an alibi. The Chief and his team come up with a scheme to determine the truth. Everyone watching that scene knew what they doing: the cast, the crew, the audience, Dayton's lawyer, etc. But Dayton was so focused on the subject that *he* didn't see it. So, for this show, it's frustrating at first, but ultimately satisfying!