Like the original CSI, CSI: Miami is a police procedural about a team of forensic scientists who serve the Miami-Dade Police Department. It is set in present-day Miami-Dade County (which mainly includes unincorporated Miami-Dade, as well as Miami, Kendall, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Opa-Locka, Key Biscayne, etc.).
The team investigates mysterious and unusual deaths to determine who killed whom and why, and also solves other serious crimes (such as rape). The show frequently focuses on a single case in each episode as opposed to the two-cases-per-episode storytelling of its sister shows, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and CSI: NY. Many of its characters have appeared on all three CSI related shows because of the two-part episodes.