Adrian Monk is horrified when he learns there's going to be a blue flu in San Francisco. He doesn't know what the blue flu is--but it sounds terrible. Captain Stottlemeyer explains that it's not really a virus: the police force plan to call in "sick" until they get a better contract. The good news is that the labor dispute will give Monk a chance to get back on the force. The bad news is, it means he'll be a "scab"--and he doesn't like the sound of that, either. Before he knows it, Monk has his badge back--and his own squad to command. Unfortunately, some of the squad members make Monk look like a paragon of mental health. But despite the challenges, they'll have to pull together to catch an astrologer's killer, solve a series of mysterious fatal assaults, and, most importantly, clean up their desks.