After Danielle Masoner dies in Central Park, Stabler follows the leads to a homeless man who turns out to be a better witness than he thought. Paired up again with Benson, Stabler investigates her death, but it keeps bringing up memories of Dani Beck for him. During the course of the investigation, Benson and Stabler learn that Danielle's husband was sleeping with a friend of theirs, leading the squad to suspect first him, but their suspicion soon turns to the husband of the other woman.
When a burnt and mummified body of a missing and wanted person is found on a Marine base, in a furnace, NCIS must work with FBI. The burnt man turns out to be a serial killer. The both teams visit the man's family and discover something shocking. Also, the NCIS team must deal with the book McGee wrote about them, using "fictional" characters.
Jonas heads off to the Democratic Republic of Georgia and finds himself in trouble. On the home front, Mack and Tiffy are fighting her legal troubles and Colonel Ryan is going head to head with the vice president's men.