Spoilers for this episode.
CTU scrambles to respond as Air Force One comes down in the desert. Keeler is found alive but critically injured, leaving Vice President Charles Logan to assume presidential authority. Jack is sent to recover the nuclear football, which was thrown clear of the wreck. Two campers, Jason and Kelly, find the case among the debris and call for help. Jack reaches them by phone while traveling toward their position in a helicopter.
Marwan is also tracking the football. Jack guides Jason through disabling its transmitter and sends the couple to an unmanned power station. The terrorists follow, forcing Jason and Kelly farther into the building. Jack has them separate the case's control board from its playbook and split up, hoping Marwan cannot obtain both. Marwan captures Jason and shoots him to make Kelly reveal her location. She surrenders the other component to save her husband.
Marwan leaves a gunman behind to kill the couple, but Jack arrives in time to stop him. He calls for medical help and pursues the vehicles carrying the football away. Air support forces one Jeep off the road, and Jack recovers the case. Marwan escapes in another vehicle. The recovery is incomplete: pages containing warhead locations and activation codes have been removed from the playbook. As Logan is sworn in, CTU warns that the stolen information could let the terrorists use a nuclear weapon.