
The series is set in New Gotham City, several years after it has been apparently abandoned by Batman. In his absence, Huntress, Oracle and Dinah are now the protectors of New Gotham: the Birds of Prey, and had taken over his war on crime. They are joined by Alfred Pennyworth, who serves Helena as she is heir to the Wayne estate; and Detective Jesse Reese, a police officer confronted with crimes and abilities he cannot explain. A central feature of the series is the concept of metahumans: individuals born with powers that cannot be explained. No two metahumans have the same abilities (unless hereditary), and there exists a whole subculture of metahuman society that the outside world knows nothing about.






Batman has vanished from New Gotham, but the next generation of the criminals he fought still prowls the city. Now confined to a wheelchair after being attacked by Batman's archenemy, The Joker, Batgirl redefines herself with a complicated double life.
Harley hires Slick, an evil metahuman who can turn from solid to liquid, to kill cops who thwart her evil schemes. When Reese becomes the next intended victim, Helena protects him, and their mutual attraction continues to grow. Meanwhile, even though Barbara believes Dinah's story, Helena remains suspicious.
Helena and Reese clash when they both try to track down a serial killer who is killing metahumans. Meanwhile, Dinah skips school when she learns from Helena that there is a metahumans-only bar. Barbara meets Wade's parents.
When Helena rescues an abandoned baby boy and brings him back to the clock tower, Barbara and Dinah try to help. However, to everyone's surprise, the baby is only happy when Helena is holding him. Even more astounding is the fact that the baby wakes from his nap as a walking, talking 5-year-old and continues to rapidly age.
Along with Barbara and Helena, Dinah learns the truth about her past when her mother comes to New Gotham in search of the daughter she abandoned years before. Dinah is shocked to learn that her mother and Batman's protégé, Black Canary, are the same person. Meanwhile, Helena finds out that Reese has family problems of his own when he becomes secretive about a ruthless gangster.
At Reese's request, Helena goes undercover to help thwart a gang of thieves terrorizing New Gotham and quickly discovers that the group is part of a larger criminal infrastructure. Helena pursues the top boss until she is exposed, putting her in grave danger. Meanwhile, Barbara must cope with her fear of intimacy when her relationship with Wade becomes serious.
Frustrated by her relationship with Reese, Helena becomes intrigued when she meets Darkstrike, a metahuman who has come to New Gotham on the trail of a serial killer.
Helena is thrilled when her best friend from high school, Sandra, returns to New Gotham, but the crimefighters are troubled by a series of murders with the unmistakable mark of Barbara's nemesis, Lady Shiva.
When a legendary mob boss, Al Hawke, receives a death threat, the only person he trusts to protect him is his son -- Reese. Reese asks Helena for help, but when she learns that Reese's father is the same man who killed Dinah's mother, Helena questions his loyalty.
Helena is captured when she investigates a fight club that pits metahuman women against each other. While Dinah and Reese infiltrate the operation, Malcolm catches Dinah, forcing her to fight Helena.
Helena refuses to attend her high school reunion, not wishing to relive the past. But when visiting former classmates are murdered one by one, Barbara persuades her to get involved when it seems like flirting with her is what connects the victims. Meanwhile, Helena copes with her romantic attraction to Jack and continues hiding her true identity from Reese.
Barbara cancels her vacation with her boyfriend after a robber, Chris Cassius, breaks into a chemical factory and drinks a mixture that gives him the power to turn people to stone. Helena goes to Arkham Asylum and interrogates Clayface, a villain who possesses the same abilities as Chris, and learns a shocking fact about her past.
Having discovered that Helena is Huntress, Harley uses a machine to transfer hypnotic powers to herself and uses them on Helena to take control of the clock tower. Barbara, having neutralized the trance, works with Alfred, Dinah, Reese, and Helena to infiltrate the clock tower and battle Harley and her cohorts before they gain control of the entire city.