Wealthy philanthropist Henry Rutherford is on the way out the door after breakfast when a earthquake hits. His young wife sees her chance and hits him over the head, then drags him next to a heavy piece of furniture and pushes it on top of him, killing him, thinking that everyone will just think the earthquake did it and she'll be in the clear and in the money.
The police have temporarily condemned Sharona's apartment building because of the quake, and so she goes to stay with her maneating, man stealing sister Gail. Oh, and Monk is staying there too as the trauma of the quake has made him temporarily lose the power of speech as he speaks only gibberish but thinks he is speaking English.
How does this involve Monk since nobody suspects that the wealthy old man was murdered? Rutherford was leaving a phone message for Sharona - they are both involved in restoring a church - when he saw his wife come at him to knock him out and cried out about what was happening, and as soon as Sharona gets back home and listens to her messages the jig will be up.
So Rutherford's widow and her boyfriend have to get into Sharona's apartment and get rid of that message. The easiest way they figure will be for the boyfriend to wine and dine Sharona, since she is always easy prey for a pretty face. How does this work out? Watch and find out.
Sharona is always blaming Monk for her relationships not working out, but she has some terrible judgment when it comes to men, absent of Monk, who often warns her about her bad choices. Among the worst is the killer in this episode, and then there are the married men hiding their wives and even a streaker on the more harmless end of the scale.
