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Security guards in a parking garage watch a sports event on TV; a woman goes to her car on another level in the garage, which is dark and deserted. As she gets to her car, a man comes up from behind and puts a gun to her back.

A car drives along the road; the people in the car notice something lying on the side of the road and pull over to see what it is. It's the woman from the parking garage, she's been beaten and shot; her clothes are torn, but she's still alive.

Sara arrives at the scene with Grissom and Nick. Brass tells them that the victim was a well-dressed black woman, who was shot and beaten and is currently at the hospital; the doctor has said that death is imminent. Grissom sends Sara to the hospital to do the rape kit while he and Nick process the scene. Nick notes the high heel print, and wonders if she knew the guy, and if he used her car or his. Grissom says, "he took a piece of her with him and left a piece of himself behind. And we get to find it."

Grissom leads Catherine and Warrick into a room; they're carrying boxes. Grissom tells them that this is their case, the CSI on it quit yesterday, and the trial begins in four days; it's a first degree murder case. Grissom asks to speak to Catherine outside, and tells her that her bank called him about her income because Eddie took a second mortgage out on the house, adding that he's still part owner until the divorce is final. Catherine is extremely upset about this.

Sara goes to the hospital; the Detective tells her that the victim is a Jane Doe, and has two bullets in her brain that the doctor can't remove without killing her. Sara looks at her ring finger and says that she is either married or recently divorced, then asks for privacy to do the rape kit. As she does it, she talks to the victim, telling her what she's doing.

At the roadside, Nick finds cartridge casings, and Grissom finds a blue jean belt loop; Brass tells them that the victim wasn't wearing denim, and Grissom decides to use scent pads; he puts pads in a mini-vac and runs it over the belt loop, seals the pads into an envelope and then freezes them for use with dogs when they get a better idea of where the suspect is. He tells Nick and Brass that there's a caveat, but doesn't say what that is.

Catherine tells Warrick that she called Eddie and got his voice mail. Warrick reviews the evidence in their case: two guys got into a fight over a motorcycle belonging to Mr. Hastings which was returned by McCall dented. According to McCall, they argued, then Hastings stabbed him with a screwdriver, and McCall defended himself by shooting Hastings twice. Hastings's wife says that McCall shot her husband in the back and that is corroborated by the coroner's report. Catherine wants to see the screwdriver, and Warrick tells her that it's missing, he's looked in all the boxes twice and can't find it anywhere. Catherine realizes that this is why the other CSI left; he quit before he got fired.

In the lab, Nick give the cartridge casing to the lab tech to see if there are any in the database that match, and they get a hit; he tells them that he'll do a side-by-side comparison to be sure.

Sara finishes the rape kit and looks through the victim's clothing; she finds a St. Catherine medallion and leaves it in the victim's hand. Grissom arrives at the hospital, and sees Sara talking to the victim, promising that she'll find out who did this. She tells him the kit is ready to process; Grissom points out that the woman is evidence, and tells Sara that if you try to chase two rabbits you end up losing them both.

Catherine and Warrick go to the Hastings house, Mrs.Hastings tells them that she's talked to enough police; they ask to see the crime scene; she's angry but shows them the garage where the motorcycle is and tells them that she was doing laundry and heard the argument, she went out and saw McCall draw the gun and fire both shots, shooting her husband in the back. Warrick goes out to the yard; Catherine has a few questions to ask Mrs. Hastings about the argument; she says that it lasted a couple of minutes before the first shot, then she went outside. Catherine runs outside; she tells Warrick that Mrs. Hastings didn't see both shots, that she just changed her story when talking to Catherine and admitted that she only heard the first shot. Catherine adds that she timed herself running out of the laundry room and it took 3.8 seconds to get out there, so there is no way that Mrs. Hastings saw either shot being fired.

Nick and Sara go over the evidence, and find that the gun was used in a gang related shooting; Grissom says no one will talk in that. Sara finds a black baseball cap, Grissom says gang shooters mark their kills by tossing down their hats, and Nick says it lets people know who's responsible; Sara says she might be able to get DNA from the hat and she could compare them to Jane's... Nick and Warrick both wonder about her calling the victim by that name.

Brass and Grissom talk to Det. Sam Vega, from the gang detail. He tells them that there are a couple of shootings every week in this neighborhood, and it might have been a gang initiation, and he identifies the cap as belonging to a gang. They go out canvassing the neighborhood; Grissom tells Nick the caveat: they can't get a warrant for the evidence they find using a dog search.

Warrick and Catherine talk to McCall; he says that he was stabbed in the arm, he circles it on a picture and Catherine notes that he's right-handed. Catherine asks to examine him, his lawyer agrees, and she looks at the stab mark. She tells Warrick that she thinks he's telling the truth; he was stabbed in the right arm, and he's right-handed. If he did it himself, he would have stabbed his left arm, and the wound would be upward rather than downward. Leaving the prison, Catherine and Warrick complain about the loss of evidence; Eddie calls, and Catherine asks him about the mortgage. He claims that he told her about it, that he's using the money to get a music studio. Catherine tells him to cancel the loan, now. In the morgue, Warrick asks Dr. Robbins if the gun shot wounds were in Hastings's back, and Dr. Robbins confirms that they were. Warrick tells him that McCall swears that he shot Hastings in the front; Dr. Robbins shows Warrick the notes that he made, and explains how, medically, he determined that the victim was shot in the back. Warrick comments that when two guys are fighting, there's lots of bobbing and weaving, and Dr. Robbins tells him that it's up to the CSIs to put perspective on the crime.

Sara goes through files on the computer; Grissom tells her that they had no luck on the street. She says that the DNA from the cap was a match to the semen from Jane Doe's rape kit, but there's no match in the system that gives her a name for the suspect, so she's looking through missing persons reports to try to identify the woman before she dies. Grissom asks if Sara has any diversions; he tells her people need diversions, and she says she chases rabbits, and reads crime books and listens to the scanner. He tells her that she needs something outside law enforcement, and tells her that he rides roller coasters. Grissom tells her that she needs to find something and can't get too close to the victims, or else they'll all become special to her and she'll burn out. She tells him that she'll find something, and just has a few more files to go through before she's done. Grissom leaves and she continues looking through the files on the computer.

Catherine and Warrick look at the t-shirt that Hastings was wearing and determine that it confirms the coroner's report; Warrick notes that there's unburned gun powder on the shirt which means that the shooter and the victim were standing close together, although the eye-witness reports say otherwise. They do an experiment using the same gun and ammo to test the distance of the shooting; six inches, 1 foot, 1.5 feet, 2 feet, and check for powder burns that match against shirt; they find that the first shot matches the shot fired from 2 feet away, and the second matches for a shot fired from 1 foot. Catherine comments that Mrs. Hastings said that her husband was running away when he was shot, but their tests show that he was moving closer. Warrick says truth is in the middle; Catherine has an idea.

Grissom wants to use the dogs, Nick reminds him that they won't be able to get a warrant from any evidence that they find. Grissom comments that that's only if they find the suspect inside, and if he is, then they'll just have to find another way to get at the evidence. Nick says that Grissom is doing this for Sara.

Sara continues to go through reports in the computer, and finds one, for Pamela Adler, who was out shopping at the time that she went missing.

The dogs go out, Grissom gives them the pads to smell, they go off running; Nick runs after the dogs. The dogs lead them to a house where a young teen is playing basketball outside; Nick notes a missing belt loop and says he's wearing the evidence in plain sight. The boy's mother comes out and asks her son, Tony, what's happening; Grissom says that they want to talk to her, but she' clearly hostile.

Catherine and Warrick set up a dummy and put straws in to the wound tracks, the first shot was on a steep angle; Warrick says that they were probably fighting like this and he bends the dummy over and Catherine notices that that's how it must have happened, and that both witnesses were telling the truth.

Brass questions Tony, who tells them that he was just hanging out the night that Pamela Adler was raped. They ask if he'll give them his jeans; his mother says that he doesn't have to do anything without them having a warrant, but Tony says that he has nothing to hide, then adds that the woman isn't even dead, and even if she does die, he's a juvenile anyway. They tell him that if she dies within a year and a day, then he'll be charged with murder, but he's still unconcerned.

Catherine and Warrick come out and find Eddie waiting for Catherine with Lindsey; he tells her that they're going to the Orpheus for dinner and a show, but Catherine tells Lindsey that it's a school night, and she needs to talk to Eddie. Warrick takes Lindsey away to his office; Catherine tells Eddie that he set her up, using their daughter this way, and that he's pathetic because he's only doing this because she caught him trying to rob her. They argue, and he insults her; she starts to slap him but he grabs her arm and begins hurting her. Grissom comes in and stops him, telling him to leave now, that this is their place of work and he never wants to see Eddie there again. Eddie comments that he always knew that Catherine and Grissom had a thing.

Sara and Nick go over evidence; she asks about the belt loop, and he tells her that it fits like a glove. Sara says that Nick should go tell Grissom about that; he warns her not to go near the kid and Sara tells him that she's going to do something else.

Catherine and Warrick tell the DA that Hastings was facing McCall but was shot in the back, they describe the fight as Hastings lunging at McCall's mid-section, and so was bent over when McCall shot him in the back on a steep angle. Catherine says that the first shot was self-defence, but the second one wasn't; Hastings was already on the ground when McCall fired that shot. Warrick comments that he doesn't know if it was adrenalin or revenge. The DA leaves; Warrick asks how Lindsey's doing, and comments that Catherine needs to get her divorce finalized.

Sara goes to the hospital, and sits on the bed to talk to 'Jane.' She doesn't notice a man sitting in the corner; Pamela Adler's husband. She tells Pamela that they caught the guy who did this to her all because she had the strength to pull his belt loop off. Mr. Adler introduces himself to Sara and thanks her; she gives him the St. Catherine medallion and asks him how he's doing. He tells her that he's okay, and the doctors say that his wife is going to live; Sara comments that she's a real fighter. He adds that they'll be moving her to a long-term care facility at the end of the week and invites her to come and visit.

Sara cries and talks to Grissom, telling him that Mr. Adler doesn't get it, he's happy that his wife is going to live and doesn't realize that she's going to be in a vegetative state for the rest of her life, while the kid who did it will be out of juvenile detention in 48 months. Sara says that it's not fair, and asks what kind of system rewards a suspect when a victim is too tough to die? Grissom tells her that she has to learn to let it go, or else she's going to spend all her time trying to help people that she can't save. Sara tells him that she wishes she were like him, wishes that she didn't feel anything, and leaves, with Grissom staring after her.