A friend of Natalie's ex-husband seemingly commits suicide aboard a locked cabin on a submarine. Monk agrees to investigate, despite his phobia about being on--and beneath--the water.
As Monk and his friends watch a TV news magazine piece on the solution of his hundredth case, he realizes that one of the victims was murdered by a different killer.
When three homeless men seek Monk's services at the holidays, Natalie convinces him to investigate their friend's death; Stottlemeyer's faith is reawakened after a visit to a monastery fountain rids him of crippling pain.
When Monk's delinquent half-brother, Jack Jr., escapes from prison and breaks into Monk's apartment, he manipulates Monk into helping him find the person he claims framed him for murder.
When Natalie unwittingly helps a thief steal the bicycle of a biotech CEO, she ropes Monk into solving a crime straight out of "Encyclopedia Brown" until Monk learns the hard way how dangerous this thief really is.
While investigating a murder at a museum of oddities, Monk befriends a warm older woman, but he has trouble believing the friendship comes without a catch.
Monk has scored tickets to the biggest football game of the year, but he and Captain Stottlemeyer can't go inside until they figure out who tried to blow up a fan in the parking lot.
When a childhood bully who terrorized Monk hires the detective to trail his wife, whom he suspects of infidelity, Monk relishes the opportunity to prove him right — and things get even sweeter when the bully is accused of murder.