When a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent tries to bring a foreign container into the Los Angeles port without an inspection, the FBI and police step in when the agent takes three of his own colleagues hostage. Meanwhile, Emily contemplates accepting a one-year assignment on a Special Task Force in Quantico that would mean being separated from Matt and is disturbed by his response.
Matt Flaherty and Emily Lehman are top-ranked crisis negotiators in the FBI's Crisis Negotiation Unit who are trained to talk their way through volatile situations. They make an outstanding team professionally, but their relationship is a bit more precarious off the job. The series advances the fundamental idea that in life and in love "Everything is a negotiation".