Grissom and Catherine investigate the stabbing death of an 80-year-old woman who lived in a run-down house full of cats; Nick and Sara comb through the remains of a car bombing that was, apparently, a murder plot gone awry.

Grissom and his crew handle their highest profile case to date when the city's former chief of detectives is slain execution-style in his house following a wild party. Missing from the residence are the chief's trophy wife and their 7-year-old daughter. When several motorists report seeing the girl along an access road near Miami, Catherine and Warrick fly there and meet that city's top CSI, Horatio Caine, who aids them in the investigation.