Secretary of State McCord and her staff work with the Mexican government to extradite a Mexican cartel leader to a U.S. prison in an effort to diminish the opioid crisis. But after he escapes during transport and a journalist who secured a gloating interview with him while on the lam is murdered, Elizabeth's urgency to find the leader escalates.

Secretary of State McCord struggles with the realization that she may need to advise the Afghan government that a compromise with the Taliban may be better than a war with them. Also, Henry uses Dmitri as bait to convince a Russian spy to help the U.S., and Daisy returns from maternity leave and decides to finally tell Joe's mother about the baby.