When the San Francisco sanitation workers go on a garbage strike, it leaves the entire city littered with garbage. Mr. Monk is appalled by the situation and wants nothing more than to have his city cleaned. When the union boss is suddenly founded dead, with his death being ruled a suicide, Mr. Monk begins to investigate. With reason to believe that his death was a homicide, Mr. Monk must get to the bottom of the suspicious case if he ever wants to live in a clean city again.