After a fourth woman goes missing in as many months, the team is brought in to track down the guy before he kidnaps again. Hotch is asked to secretly evaluate Gideon to see if he is ready to work full time again.

The two forensic teams come back together under the leadership of Grissom and Catherine just in time to tackle three separate investigations: a murdered couple found in bed in a suspicious trailer explosion; a beautiful stripper discovered dead and dumped in the worst part of town; and two bodies found baked and decomposed after spending five days in the trunk of a car exposed to the hot Vegas sun.