Spoilers for this episode.
Jack Bauer returns from a Chinese prison to an America shaken by eleven weeks of bombings. President Wayne Palmer has negotiated his release so CTU can trade him to Abu Fayed, who promises to reveal Hamri Al-Assad's location. Bill Buchanan explains that Fayed wants revenge for his brother's death during an interrogation. Scarred and barely speaking, Jack accepts that the exchange will end with his own death and asks that Audrey and Kim remain unaware of his return.
A bus bombing in Los Angeles gives Palmer's advisers another reason to argue over detention camps. Karen Hayes resists Tom Lennox's proposals while CTU prepares a military strike against Assad. Chloe O'Brian refuses to abandon Jack and uses an unofficial satellite feed with Morris's help. Fayed detects their surveillance, threatening the deal before finally supplying the coordinates CTU needs. Across the city, Ray Wallace protects his son's friend Ahmed Amar from a violent neighbor after Ahmed's father is arrested.
Fayed tortures Jack and admits that Assad came to stop the attacks: Fayed himself is directing them. Jack memorizes the coordinates Fayed gives CTU, then tricks his guard into approaching by disconnecting his heart monitor. He bites the man's neck and frees himself, hiding beneath a floor grate. Ahmed, meanwhile, secretly calls Fayed about a package he must deliver.