Plot Synopsis

Hosted by CNN NEW DAY anchor Chris Cuomo, INSIDE WITH CHRIS CUOMO is a five-part investigative series that shines a light on the shocking -- and sometimes heartbreaking -- stories that affect real people in real towns and cities across America. Using long-form storytelling, this cinema verite-style series follows Cuomo as he meets the unseen, the ignored, and the outcast to share their stories. Each 60-minute episode spotlights a different story, including the growing opioid epidemic, secrets of the dead in a medical examiner's office, a polygamist community, the inner workings of the sex trade, and a women's prison. In the season opener, "SOS New Hampshire," addicts are found over-dosing on the streets every day in New Hampshire, the small, bucolic state President Trump recently called a "drug-infested den." Cuomo visits the front-lines of America's opioid epidemic, to see what's being done to turn this deadly tide. It's an uphill battle for the first responders, police departments, addiction specialists, and courts, who are instituting new programs and solutions to reduce the rising death toll. The hour follows the lives of addicts trying to kick their deadly habits as well as the efforts of those working tirelessly to save them. Additional episodes include:

"The Talking Dead" (airdate: Oct. 27, 2017): An alarming number of bodies is piling up in Dr. Corrine Stern's jurisdiction, and it's her job to figure out who they are and why they've died. She is the lone medical examiner in the border town of Laredo, Texas and has become an expert in identifying the bodies of migrants who die crossing the border, but her caseload is much more than just that. Despite dealing with horrific cases on a regular basis, Dr. Stern is committed to treating all of her "patients" with dignity and works tirelessly to give their families closure. In this hour, Cuomo gets a first-hand look at Dr. Stern's advanced forensic techniques but also the impact working so intimately with death has on a person's life.

"Secret Lives, Secret Places" (airdate: Nov. 3, 2017): Emotionally-charged custody battles take place with increasing frequency in two small towns on the border of Arizona and Utah, a hidden corner of America, where former members of the FLDS, an extreme polygamous sect still under the control of Warren Jeffs, their imprisoned leader, wrestle and argue with women in prairie dresses to get their children back. Chris Cuomo finds himself in the middle of an hours-long tug of war, and meets mothers and fathers who have fought long and hard to reclaim their kids, at great personal cost.

"Anyone's Daughter" (airdate: Nov. 10, 2017): More and more American children are being recruited into the sex trade, sometimes girls as young as 10 years old. It is now become a booming multi-million dollar business that feeds on young, vulnerable, homegrown kids, who are forced into selling their bodies to enrich their traffickers. Chris Cuomo explores the mean streets of Los Angeles, California, where law enforcement battles this rising tide of exploitation, and meets officers and activists who are trying to help young victims and put their predators behind bars. The hour's guide is Rachel Thomas, a survivor whose own fall from grace and back serves as a cautionary tale.

"Green is the New Black" (airdate: Nov. 17, 2017): What is life in prison really like for the fastest growing segment of incarcerated Americans? Chris Cuomo is granted unprecedented access to New York State's only maximum security prison for women, witnessing some of the most important moments of some of the inmates' lives. From the first day of a young woman who put her love of drugs over her two young children, to a dominatrix who killed two of her customers and is now allowed conjugal visits with a husband she met on a prison dating website. Cuomo talks to the warden about the problems of drugs in prison, and whether rehabilitation is possible: spending time with a woman who has spent 26 years in prison for murdering her own grandmother as she waits to find out whether her fifth parole hearing will finally set her free.