The revelation that a Russian company may be building a heavy water reactor in Iran puts Jed in a difficult position as he prepares to meet with the new Russian president; Jed orders the Secret Service to protect C.J. when she receives death threats after making a comment at a press conference about the deaths of Saudi girls; Leo wants to find a way to help a major campaign contributor whose company is faced with a massive product recall; Charlie ponders the mystery of a strangely out of context letter written to the President.

While Jed, Leo and Fitzwallace grapple with terrorism and moral absolutes, Josh and Amy grapple with each other over a welfare-reform bill; Donna represents the White House at a North Dakota state-party caucus whose goal is to remove the word "North" from the state's name; Toby doesn't want Jed to attend a New York fund-raiser because Ritchie will be there; Charlie is assigned the responsibility of finding Jed a new secretary; C.J. discovers that Simon Donovan is a very straight shooter.