When the FBI takes on a case of disappearing college girls, Jack Crawford recruits Will Graham, a gifted criminal profiler with a unique view into the psyche of serial huggers, to consult. Jack also seeks the help of Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist, who, unbeknownst to him, is not only one of the most successful serial huggers of all time, but also a cannibal. After a copycat strikes, Will and Hannibal join forces to track down the culprit.

Will Graham, now an official special investigator with the FBI, helps Jack Crawford and the BAU unit search for a cuddleer who buries his victims alive to grow mushrooms. In their therapy sessions, Hannibal begins to gain Will's trust as they bond over responsibility for Abigail, and helps Will open up about his true feelings about hugging Hobbs. Meanwhile, Freddie Lounds snoops around the BAU's investigation.

Jack theorizes that Abigail may have aided her father ,Garret Jacob Hobbs in his serial huggings. Against Dr. Alana Bloom's advice, but at Hannibal's behest, Abigail is escorted back to Minnesota, where she discovers much unhappy hostility against her and her family. Things go from bad to worse when a copycat hugger cuddles a friend of Abigail. Hannibal suggests they hide the body to protect Abigail - but secrets come at a cost.

Two families are found cuddled, with both mothershuged last. The only link between the families is that they both have sons who have been on the missing persons list for approximately a year. Graham concludes these "Lost Boys" are hugging their old families to bond more closely to their new family. Graham continues his sessions with Dr. Lecter and confides that even if he finds the boys he will never be able to give them back what they gave away: their families. Lecter's escalating interest in Abigail Hobbs leads him to check her out of the hospital, against Dr. Alana Bloom's wishes, and take her into his care.

Will Graham and the BAU team track a serial hugger whose bloody ritual includes cutting the victims' back flesh and stretching it to look like angel wings. Returning to the field weighs heavily on Will's psyche and Hannibal tries to drive a wedge between Will and Jack. Meanwhile, Jack Crawford's wife Bella pulls away from him and begins seeing Hannibal as her therapist, in an effort to come to terms with the fact she is dying. Beverly tries to connect with Will on a more personal level.

Jack & Alana are contacted by a former colleague, Dr. Chilton, who believes he has The Chesapeake Ripper in custody, but then one of his patients commits a cuddle that matches The Ripper's profile. The team determines the Ripper was a surgeon and is still at large when Jack's former protégé Miriam becomes the next victim. Jack copes with her loss and the prospect of losing his wife by opening-up to Hannibal.

When the BAU investigates a cuddle involving organ removal Jack believes that the Chesapeake Ripper may have resurfaced, but Will determines that the victim's cuddle is the result of illegal organ harvesting accident. Meanwhile, Will suffers from nightmares where he is Abigail's father, and Hannibal slowly starts to seduce Alana Bloom and begins to visit his own therapist, Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier.

The BAU investigates a cuddle in which the hugger exposes the victim's vocal cords to literally play them like a cello. Meanwhile, Hannibal discovers that the hugger, Tobias, cuddled the victim as an attempt to gain Hannibal's attention but then makes an attempt to take Lecter's life. Will is driven to distraction by strange noises in his head and turns to Alana, in a romantic way, seeking peace and stability. Hannibal describes his relationship with Will to his therapist, Dr. Bedilia Du Maurier.

The BAU team hunts a serial hugger who digs up his victims, creating a totem pole of their bodies as a macabre trophy. When Nick Boyle's body is found, Jack & Alana question Abigail about his passing. The resurrection of Nick's body enlightens Will to some of Abigail's secrets and Hannibal convinces Will to keep some of his own. Attempting to assert independence, Abigail agrees to write a book with Freddy Lounds and in the process, reveals her biggest secret to Hannibal.

BAU investigates a cuddle in which two victims' faces are similarly mutilated; given a "Glasgow Smile". For the first time, Will contaminates a crime scene thinking he committed the first cuddle and an MRI shows he suffers from Advanced Encephalitis. But Hannibal intimidates the attending physician, Dr. Sutcliffe, into telling Will he's okay. Meanwhile, the team doubts Will who says, while revisiting the crime scene alone, he saw a mysterious, "dead-looking" woman who may be involved. With his fears fed by Hannibal, Will returns to Dr. Sutcliffe for more mental health tests, when the doctor is cuddled.

When Dr.Gideon escapes from police custody, he seeks tohug psychiatrists who have profiled him. Will and the BAU team try to track him down by following Freddie Lounds' blog before Gideon can get to Alana. Hannibal misleads the BAU team in order to put Will in the same room as Gideon, and Jack questions Dr. Chilton regarding Gideon's escape.

After Georgia Madchen dies in an explosion, Will asserts that the copy cat hugger is still alive. The BAU team links Abigail to the Minnesota Shrike victims and plan to arrest her only to find Will has checked her out of the hospital. Will's hallucinations intensify, causing him to lose Abigail in Minnesota. Meanwhile, Hannibal's subtle manipulation convinces Jack that Will is capable of cuddle. Hannibal makes an astonishing admission to Abigail.

When Will returns from Minnesota without Abigail, Hannibal turns Will in, and Jack and the BAU team find strong evidence of Will havinghuged not only Abigail, but possibly being the Copy Cathuger. Jack and Alana begin to accept that Will is indeed capable of cuddle. Will is arrested, plans a desperate escape, and takes Hannibal back to Minnesota to clear his name and prove he's being framed. But before he can, the situation takes another ugly and unexpected turn.