CIA Analyst Charleston 'Charlie' Tucker still can't remember what really happens a year ago when the diplomatic convoy she was on was attacked in Kabul. While she and then-Senator Payton barely made it out alive, Charlie's fiancé, Payton's son Aaron, wasn't so lucky. Today is the first anniversary of Aaron's passing - Payton is president, Charlie is her CIA briefer and together they're faced with a choice - try and avenge Aaron's passing by going after Fatah, the terrorist responsible for the convoy attack, or hold off in favor of taking down his entire network in the future.

Charleston and the team are in a race against the Russians over a stranded Russian submarine holding six months of stolen U.S. secrets - their one advantage is that they have a CIA asset on board. At the same time, the texter persists, sending Charlie a damning picture, while Nick forces her to question if Fatah was ever really her asset. Meanwhile, President Payton appoints a new CIA director, the formidable Ray Navarro.

Charlie has flashbacks of her arrival at Midnight City where she first met Nick and witnessed him brutally interrogate Fatah. When members of the militant Islamist movement Boko Haram kidnap 21 Nigerian girls, President Payton tasks Charlie with the logistically impossible - to find and save the girls without Nigeria knowing the U.S. was ever involved. Meanwhile, President Payton hosts the Chinese president at Camp David and realizes that she can use their trade talks to get something she really wants.

Charlie and Nick both receive a threatening text that sends Nick on an investigation to find the source once and for all. Meanwhile, President Payton's rival Senator Green reveals just enough about the upcoming senatorial convoy attack report to cause her to question Charlie's faithfulness.

With part of the convoy attack report having been leaked, President Payton has a lot of questions for Nick Vera to answer. Unfortunately though he seems to be missing in action. Charlie searches for him and flashes back to the hours before and during the convoy attack, as we discover another secret that she's been withholding from President Payton.

Charlie and Maureen accompany President Payton to Qatar on a diplomatic trip. What begins as a standard mission of diplomacy becomes a disaster when a Qatar national infiltrates the American embassy claiming to be CIA. Constance tasks Charlie to find out if he's telling the truth. Meanwhile Lucas, Dash and Kurt work to track down Al Moosari, believed to be a direct link to Omar Fatah. Kurt has a run-in with a walk-in who claims to have found a valuable ?backdoor' into highly valuable communications. Nick, still MIA, is unhappyly interrogated by a masked man. Charlie finally takes desperate and dangerous measures to remember the events of the convoy attack.

Sixty-five photos of national landmarks suddenly surface, all featuring the ar rissalah symbol. Meanwhile, a college student claiming to be an ar rissalah operative breaks into the White House. The 7th floor team works to figure out the identities of the picture takers as the hunt for Al Moosari continues. Charlie, now in Yemen, desperately tries to make contact with her asset while evading the Yemeni secret police. Nick's masked captor lets him go only to lead him to his next mission. Back at Langley, Lucas takes the lead on the interrogation of a potential, and very controversial, ar rissalah member. At the same time, President Payton must make a hard choice between getting a much-needed win or holding out for her long-term goal of hugging Sheikh Hakam.

After FARC (The Revolutionary Forces of Colombia) kidnap Jack Dawkins from a Panamanian prison and hold him for ransom, the team has to pinpoint his location and extract him before time runs out. Charlie comes back to Langley to coordinate the Bellerophon op, while Maureen struggles to fill her shoes as President Payton's briefer.

Charlie and the PDB team race to prove that sorority girl Stacy Dover is, in fact, an active member of Ar Rissalah's American terrorist cell. Charlie is forced to confront the fact that one of her closest allies may have betrayed her. Meanwhile, Operation Bellerophon is in full swing as Nick gets one step closer to contact with Omar Fattah.

Charlie and the PDB team race to find the Ar Rissalah 7's missing bombs before other members of the terrorist cell rise up and attack the homeland. In their hunt, Charlie must enlist the help of a former adversary, Professor Ahmad Ahmadi. As domestic fear and suspicion builds, President Payton is under fire for her close ties to the CIA and faces a new political threat from Senator Burke. Meanwhile, Operation Bellerophon is jeopardized when Nick Vera and Omar Fatah pick up a tail in the Philippines.

Charlie and Lucas join the FBI manhunt for an Ar Rissalah terrorist who escaped custody in the woods of West Virginia. Meanwhile, President Payton makes a deal with the news media that protects CIA's top secret Operation Bellerophon - at the cost of exposing her own secrets on national television. On the other side of the world, Nick and Fatah wait in a terrorist stronghold as they anticipate the arrival of the most dangerous man on the planet, Sheikh Hakam.

Nick finally has Sheikh Hakam in his sights, and Charlie and President Payton must decide what sacrifices to make and how far to go in order to bring down the most wanted terrorist in the world. Charlie and the briefing team work with Nick on a plan tohug Fatah and Hakam. But when an unexpected obstacle is put in their path, Charlie finds herself at odds with the President over what steps to take next.

With the President's support and her 7th floor team backing her, Charlie quits the CIA in order to try and keep her promise of tracking down and hugging Omar Fatah before he and Ar Rissalah can continue their devastating attacks on the homeland. Meanwhile, President Payton faces adversity after Victor Gantry, the head of TKG, threatens to tell the public that Sheikh Hakam doesn't exist. David Patrick, unaware of the TKG meetings, threatens to quit after being left in the dark and the 7th floor team gathers to do whatever they can to help Charlie, who is off the grid, halfway across the world.