Brennan, with Max's help, is still in hiding with Christine, framed by computer hacker Christopher Pelant for the murder of her mentor, Dr. Ethan Sawyer. Booth vows to catch Pelant, with or without the FBI's help.

Meanwhile, Clark Edison has been hired as the Jeffersonian team's new forensic anthropologist in Brennan's place... a fact that doesn't sit well with Angela, who is working on cracking Pelant's code to the exclusion of other cases.

A body is found, buried eleven years earlier... and already excavated and examined, apparently by Brennan, before the Jeffersonian team arrived. Angela realizes that Brennan has risked her freedom to send them a message: solving this murder will clear her name.

The victim is a high school guidance counselor who went missing ten years earlier, and Pelant attended her school. Clues from Pelant's past prove helpful, but when Pelant turns up somewhere unexpected – and Hodgins does something unexpected – the entire team could end up under arrest. But thanks to Sweets, it could also be a break in the case.