Mladá vdova, Sára Kidwellová, je při pohřbu manžela vyrušena telefonátem, který ji vyděsí. V telefonu se jí ozve hlas Jima, který jí tvrdí, aby nevěřila nikomu, protože on stále žije. Po tomto neobvyklém incidentu, na první pohled působícím jako žert, začne pátrat Námořní vyšetřovací úřad.

Major Jim Kidwell a jeho přítel major Peary byli vycvičení pro speciální a tajné mise. Při poslední akci oba zemřeli za záhadných okolností a jejich manželky chtějí zjistit skutečnou příčinu jejich smrti. Tým exhumuje nalezené Kidwellovo tělo a přijdou na to, že major zemřel hroznou smrtí za velmi podezřelých okolností, ale určitě později než byl oficiální pohřeb. Gibbs nechá odposlouchávat Sářin telefon. Jeho lidé se nemohou dostat k potřebným informacím o mrtvých vojácích. Navštíví velícího důstojníka "mariòáků", protože zablokoval celý systém. Ten jim prozradí, že jejich smrt drží v tajnosti záměrně, ne kvůli zahraniční cestě, které se zúčastnili, ale kvůli tomu, že svou úlohu splynout s davem vzali velmi vážně. Nyní se

We join our heroes at the firing range, where a number of shooters are practicing. Tony asks Kate if she's nervous; she sarcastically confirms that she's "shaking." A siren sounds; they shoot. Another siren sounds; they stop. Everyone heads down the range to check their targets. We see that the target is a drawing of a man holding a woman hostage. In multiple shots, Kate has only hit her target twice - a double tap in the head - and all her other shots went wide to the man's safe side. Tony, by contrast, has hit his target every time - except for once, when he shot the hostage's ear off. (Tony: "She'll live!") They debate who won. Gibbs ninjas up behind them to check their work and decides to add a little pressure to the situation. He tells Kate to relax her shoulders (complete with a little shoulder-rub that gets all the shippers hot and bothered), tapes Tony's beloved NCIS cap over the face of the hostage on his target, then does the same on Kate's target using her PDA. When they both protest, he advises them not to miss.

As they head back to their firing positions, Kate and Tony discuss the feasibility of breaking into Gibbs' house and setting his boat on fire. Gibbs gets a call - they've caught a case. He tells them the situation that we, of course, already know. But before they leave, he wants to see how Kate and Tony will shoot under pressure.

Back at HQ, Tony sulkily bequeaths his beloved hat - which now sports two 9mm holes - to Abby, who is appreciative. He has called her from her lab for help; he is trying to get the records on the dead Marine, Major Jim Kidwell, but his computer won't allow it. They find the problem: he doesn't have a high enough security clearance. Abby inquires how the Marine died; that is pretty much the info Tony was looking for.

At the Kidwell home, Gibbs and Kate are interviewing the widow. Gibbs points out that in most cases of this type of crank calling, the prankster turns out to be someone who knows the prankee; usually someone with a grudge. Mrs. Kidwell insists she thinks the voice was her husband's. Gibbs asks permission to put a trace on the phone in case another call comes. The doorbell rings; a woman enters with two children. She is introduced as Lisa Peary, whose husband was in Kidwell's unit and died with him. Mrs. Peary and Mrs. Kidwell feel that as Marine wives they have done their part; they got two sealed caskets and no information from their husbands' command. Now they are demanding answers.

Returning to HQ, Gibbs asks Tony for information; Tony is only able to say that Kidwell was involved in classified stuff; he has lost his security clearance due to a paperwork mix-up. According to NCIS personnel, he's actually dead! Kate tries to get the information; she is blocked as well, and she was cleared for Air Force One with the Secret Service. Gibbs also tries. While he is trying, Kate picks up her PDA. There is a bullet hole right through the center of it. She looks very sad, and yearns wistfully for a warranty that covers bullets.. Gibbs is also blocked from the information. He returns to his desk and receives a phone call. Turns out, NCIS is being blocked from the information they are looking for. The call is from Kidwell and Peary's CO; he wants to meet with them privately on base at Quantico.

The team meets with Lieutenant Colonel Walsh off the record; he is a tall and well-built Caucasian gentleman in his middle forties. He tells the team that Kidwell and Peary were on a classified assignment in Central America and went native as part of their cover; they were murdered by a prostitute who spiked their drinks with formaldehyde over an unpaid bill. Gibbs says he wants the paperwork. Walsh says he will see what he can do and leaves. As the team heads back to their car, Gibbs gets a phone call: it's Abby. She says that the technicians installing the trace at the Kidwells' home located another trace already on the line - one that came from Quantico. Gibbs storms into Lt. Col. Walsh's office. The Colonel's aide says he is in a meeting, which Gibbs barges into, team in tow. He demands to know where Lt. Col. Walsh is. A thin Black man in his early forties stands up and identifies himself as Lt. Col. Walsh.

The real Lt. Col. Walsh has no idea how his men died. He also doesn't know who they were working for. Walsh is an administrator; when his Marines go out of country, they could be working for anyone. Walsh does not know who they were working for; Gibbs and Tony interpret this as "one of the A's: CIA, NSA..." Gibbs wants to know of Walsh stopped to check and see if his men were inside those closed caskets before sending them on to the families.

Back at HQ, Gibbs and Morrow discuss the case. Gibbs does not buy the official story; he knows that either Kidwell and Peary died doing something they shouldn't have been doing, or Kidwell really did make that phone call. He asks Morrow for help getting into the sealed records; Morrow will see what he can do.

In Abby's lab, Kate and Tony are arguing over a program Abby is running which - if done properly - can generate an image of the phony Col. Walsh. Gibbs wants Tony to pull the dead Marines' LES's (Leave and Earnings Statements); Kate volunteers to do that, citing the very shaky excuse that Tony has a better handle on the program. Gibbs allows it, and Kate pulls Tony into the next room to find out what LES's are and how to get them. She vanishes upstairs. While she is on the telephone, she breaks out her trusty sketch pad and pencil. When she returns to the lab, she finds the rest of her team laboring over the computer to produce an image of... Illya Kuryakin. No, wait, that's a young Ducky, that's who that is. And since apparently Kate is the only person doing any work today, she produces her sketch of the fake colonel. Tony grabs her sketch book and flips through it, finding Kate's unflattering caricatures of himself drooling over something in a skirt and Abby as a vampire bat. Predictably, Abby falls in love with the one of herself and demands to be allowed to frame it and hang it up.

Gibbs wants the LES's in twelve hours; he wants Abby to run the fake colonel's picture through the military databases. Leaving his trustworthy team to do the legwork, he visits Maj. Kidwell's grave, and is photographed without his knowledge.

The next morning, Gibbs arrives at HQ at the same time as Mrs. Kidwell, who reports that there was another phone call, this one to Maj. Kidwell's friend, Maj. O'Donnell, who has the call on tape because it came to his answering machine. Abby runs the tape against voice-recognition software, comparing the voice on the machine to Maj. Kidwell's voice from some old home movies. A tiresome explanation ensues, because Abby needs lines and we need technical details, but it's always fun to listen to her talk about things we don't understand, so we put up with it about as long as Gibbs does. Long and short: it's definitely Kidwell on the phone.

Kidwell's casket is exhumed and brought to Autopsy. The casket is opened with O'Donnell there as a witness. He confirms that the extremely fresh body in the casket is in fact Kidwell.

Kate and Tony discuss the case in the squad room. They have no explanation. Gibbs isn't through with the case; they keep working. Ducky begins his autopsy. He is going to have a hard time determining time of death; the body has already been professionally embalmed. Cause of death is another question. The official cause (line of duty) usually implies injuries received in combat; aside from minimal bruising at the wrists, Maj. Kidwell is unhurt. Except for being dead, of course. There's also no way to tell if he's been poisoned because there's no blood left in his body due to being embalmed.

Upstairs, Kate has the LES's in order and ready to be examined. Gibbs thoughtfully informs us that the reason he wants them is because they will tell where Kidwell was stationed and who was paying him. Useful information. He walks away; rounding a corner, we see him receive a phone call. It is Mrs. Peary, who does not appreciate being interrogated by Special Agent DiNozzo, who she says is with her now at the playground where she is airing out her children. Gibbs looks over the wall and sees DiNozzo standing at his desk, on the telephone. Apparently, Tony has either mastered the art of being in two places at once, or something hinky is happening. Gibbs asks Mrs. Peary to keep "DiNozzo" there, and heads for her location.

In autopsy, Ducky finds that the embalming incision in Maj. Kidwell's neck has been stuffed with newspaper. He sends Gerald with it to Abby, and returns to inspecting the incision. With a start, he jumps away from the body, horrified, then announces that he knows how Kidwell died.

At the playground, Gibbs runs up to Mrs. Peary, but the fake DiNozzo is gone. He shows Mrs. Peary Kate's sketch; she identifies him as the fake DiNozzo. He finds out what direction the man took and sends Mrs. Peary home. Then he chases the man. He locates him on a side street, chases him, and shoots at him as he enters a bulletproof sedan and drives away.

Back at HQ, Tony and Kate are working up the information from the LES. We learn here that Tony is a two-fingered typist. Gibbs returns, tells Kate and Tony about his encounter. They tell him that they have learned that Kidwell and Peary were transferred to a new unit in September, but they don't have the information on it because its number wasn't in the Marine Corps database. Gibbs advises them that it was definitely CIA on account of the economy-class armored car. They head down to Autopsy, where Ducky advises them that the dearly departed was embalmed alive. In Abby's lab, she has processed the paper in Kidwell's neck, which was definitely newspaper - dated December 12, 2003. The funeral when the call came in was December 8; the current date is December 14.

In the squad room, plans are made to examine Peary's grave using ground-penetrating radar. We move to the cemetery, half-expecting Buffy Summers to come running past at any moment chasing something with fangs. The radar is calibrated using the grave of Miss Agatha O'Leary and her poodle, Fluffy. Then it is turned on the grave of Maj. Peary, revealing that the casket contains what appear to be cinder blocks.

In her lab, Abby has identified the identity thief; his name is Jack Canton, and he is definitely CIA. Abby got his identity from the Marine detachment at the Colombian embassy. Despite the lateness of the hour - 3 a.m. - Gibbs sets Kate and Tony to find out where the newspaper was published that was found inside Kidwell. He and Morrow get the director of the CIA out of bed and demand answers. It turns out that Kidwell and Peary were kidnapped by Colombian insurgents. The CIA paid the ransom - $2 million - but the insurgents killed the Marines anyway. It further seems that Canton was the agent responsible for paying the ransom. It looks like he kept the money for himself and left the Marines to die. Canton is now on his way back to Colombia. The CIA director insists he will handle this in-house. After the call is over, Morrow tells Gibbs to go get their Marine.

The team takes a priority ride to Colombia - slung between pallets. It doesn't look pleasant. Tony reads a magazine and eats a hamburger; Gibbs sleeps and Kate is violently motion-sick. Gibbs wakes when they are about half an hour out of Colombia. Kate learns that there is no bathroom on a cargo plane; women everywhere shudder in sympathy when Gibbs offers her a plastic bag and the relative privacy of "if you want some privacy, you can probably go down behind those boxes there."

On arrival, the team meets with Canton's partner, Gonzales, who says they've lost Canton; they tracked him to an insurgent camp, but he was gone by the time they got there. The newspaper came from a town called Bosa, which Gonzales confirms is about ten miles away. They trek to Bosa, where there is apparently only one funeral home, which is currently in use seeing an elderly lady off on her final journey. Canton's car is parked out front. The team moves in. Through a small window, Gibbs sees Peary on a table, his own live embalming about to begin. He shoots the embalmer. They storm the funeral home. Tony and Gonzales come in from the front; Kate and Gibbs come in through the back.

As they make their way in, Tony is shot at from around a corner, then a grenade is thrown into the hall where Gibbs and Kate are. They manage to get back alive, but Gibbs is wounded in his right shoulder by the explosion. From around the corner, Canton speaks: he will shoot Peary if Gibbs doesn't come around the corner unarmed. Gonzales steps forward instead, trying to talk to his partner; Canton shoots him in the heart.

Gibbs tells Kate quietly to relax her shoulders, tosses his weapon and comes around the corner. His arm is dripping blood from his shoulder wound. He speaks with Canton, who taunts him while holding Peary hostage. Kate and Tony signal one another silently, then burst around the corner, shooting.

The scene changes to a suburban yard, decorated very tacky for Christmas. The two Peary children are kicking a soccer ball in the front yard under their mother's watchful eye when a car drives up. They stop playing to watch as Tony, Kate and Gibbs (whose right arm is in a sling) get out of the car, followed by Major Peary. There is a tearful reunion which is all filmed from the left side. The camera rounds to the right, and we see that someone has shot Maj. Peary's right ear off.

On the sidewalk, Kate and Tony debate who actually shot the Major's ear off. They have just decided to ask Gibbs when the Mysterious Redhead in the silver Beemer shows up. Gibbs hops in, kisses her cheek and, with sexy Bond-ish music in the background, the Beemer drives off, leaving us all to wonder just exactly who drives around with the top down in Virginia in winter.