General Juma targets the White House as President Taylor faces a deepening foreign-policy dilemma; heroic sacrifices are made; and casualties stack up as Jack Bauer's staunch defiance to uncover conspirators inside the government has critical consequences.

President Taylor and Olivia emotionally reconcile their differences; the moment is interrupted as one of Juma's men pulls the President away. Jack and Bill form a plan; Jack opened canisters of CH-4 in the lockdown room just before surrendering. The room will soon be saturated with natural gas. A single spark from a single bullet will ignite it, and take out enough of Juma's men so they can rescue the President. Jack plans to rush Juma's men shortly to try to get off the shot. The President insists that Juma release the hostages before she reads his statement. Instead Juma shoots one of the hostages, and threatens to kill the rest if she does not comply. She reads his statement on a live feed. The Vice President, watching from a secure location, orders that the feed be shut down; but it can't be. Agent Moss calls, convinced that Juma is on a suicide mission, and again begs the VP to order that the FBI initiate a rescue. The VP refuses, still convinced that Juma can be negotiated with. Bill tells Jack that Juma's not working alone; he overheard Juma talking on a SAT phone, coordinating with somebody on the outside. He tells Jack to find out who it is… and then dives for the lockdown door. He manages to get off the shot, triggering the CH-4 explosion. As Jack jumps into action, Moss orders his men to move in under his authority… and over the VP's continued protests. In the melee Aaron Pierce manages to spirit the President and Olivia away to safety. Juma's men are cut down, and after a tense standoff Jack manages to kill Juma as well. Jack runs back to the lockdown room… only to find the body of Bill Buchanan, who was killed in the explosion.

The FBI wants to move the President to Andrews Air Force base for her own safety, but she insists on staying at the White House. She and Olivia then cement their reconciliation. Agent Walker tells Jack, who is still sitting stunned by Bill's body, that the President is secure. She tries to comfort him; he's wracked with guilt. It was supposed to be Jack who set off the explosion. Jack then tells Walker and Moss that Juma wasn't working alone, and begs Moss to let him talk to Ryan Burnett. He swears to Moss that he won't torture or touch Burnett in any way; he'll just scare Burnett into talking. Instead Moss has Jack placed back in custody, over Walker's objection that Jack's plan is a good one. Walker then passes on to Ethan Kanin the info that Juma wasn't working alone… and tells him Jack's plan. Ethan calls Moss, and orders him to release Jack and implement his plan to question Burnett… on Ethan's authority: the President won't be told.

At Starkwood, Jonas Hodges is surprised but calm at the news that the President is still alive, and Juma is dead. He's still getting what he wanted out of his deal with Juma: the shipment will arrive in a couple of hours; time to nail down a couple of targets. The President wants Olivia brought on to her staff as a Special Advisor. Ethan objects; during the campaign Olivia leaked damaging personal information about her opponent to the press, and nearly cost her the election. Olivia's a liability. The President insists that Olivia has changed; and that Ethan offer the job to her himself. Larry berates Agent Walker for going behind his back to Ethan, and orders her to go back to HQ and turn in her badge: she's suspended indefinitely. Jack tells Moss that Walker's the best agent he's got, but Moss says he can't ignore her circumvention of his authority.

At Starkwood, twelve targets are found along the eastern seaboard within 300 kilometers of "the base." The population density is high at their targets; the kill ratio could be very high, though Hodges hopes he'll never have to find out. A memo is intercepted from the FBI about Jack's release to question Burnett. A man, Quinn, is dispatched to Burnett's hospital to deal with the problem. As Jack and Moss arrive at the hospital, Quinn (disguised in scrubs) enters an old man's hospital room. After establishing that he has no living family, he smothers the man to death with his pillow. He then uses the distraction as the duty nurses leave the desk to download hospital records: Burnett's room and hospital schematics. Quinn slips into an access hatch, and draws a gun. Olivia visits Aaron Pierce in triage to thank him. Ethan then finds her, and offers her the Special Advisor job, to her surprise. She takes the job, conceding that she overstepped her bounds during the campaign… and then angrily blames Ethan for allowing corruption right under his nose, calling him a failure, and expressing surprise that he hasn't tendered his resignation. Ethan's offended, but Olivia swears she'll find out who failed her mother, and make sure they can never do it again.

At the hospital Jack is left alone with a just-reviving Burnett as Moss watches nearby via video feed. Burnett is terrified, and is about to spill his guts. Suddenly Moss' sound cuts out, and the picture freezes. Quinn, from above the room, opens a panel and drops in a canister of nerve gas, almost immediately immobilizing Jack and Burnett. As Jack watches, Quinn drops into the room, and cuts Burnett's throat. He then smashes the room's electronic security lock, and leaves the way he came. Jack revives moments later. As Moss pounds on the door, Jack pursues Quinn. Quinn calls Starkwood, and reports success: Bauer has been framed for Burnett's death. Jack loses track of Quinn, and instead focuses on escaping from the hospital as Moss breaks down the door to find Burnett dead… and no Jack. Jack calls Moss to tell him he's being set up, and what really happened. Moss tells him if he's innocent they'll sort it out, but Jack says no: whoever did this wants Jack out of play, and Moss distracted. He urges Moss not to get distracted; this threat isn't over. Jack runs off into the night, a fugitive once more.