Joe Bulo, Mike Milligan, and the Kitchen brothers arrive at the Gerhardt home to speak with Floyd Gerhardt, since Otto is still out of commission following his stroke. They tell her about the offer to buy out the Gerhardt business. Floyd sends her grandson (Bear's disabled son), who was helping her count the money, to go retrieve his father and uncles. Dodd has killed a man in the stables by cutting off his ears and allowing him to bleed to death. She passes along the offer to her sons Dodd and Bear.

The offer from Kansas City is that they will buy the operation from the Gerhardts and allow them to continue managing it for them.  Dodd wants to tell them off and refuse the offer, and declares himself boss. Bear suggests that their mother Floyd should be boss, since she has the longest standing relationships within the business.

Dodd and Floyd discuss the matter privately, with Floyd trying to convince Dodd that it is not his time to be in charge yet, and that it is in the best interest of the operation for it to remain in her hands until the current crisis is averted. Floyd orders Hanzee to find Rye.

Joe and Mike discuss the plan to take over the Gerhardt operation while in the car heading away from the Gerhardt home. Mike suggests that perhaps they can scare Floyd, as she is a woman, while Joe suggests that they are better off trying to get one of the three brothers to switch sides and join them.

At the Rock County Sheriff's office, Hank examines photographs from the crime scene and the shoe found in the tree outside the Waffle Hut where the murders took place. He later drives to visit his daughter and her family in Luverne, Minnesota. While there, he discusses the case with Betsy, who tells him that one of the victims was a judge from Fargo, ND. Lou joins them, and he and Hank discuss whether knowing that the judge was one of the victims changes anything about the case. Hank wonders whether she was at the wrong place at the wrong time or if the whole thing was about her.

Ed sits outside the garage as Peggy gets ready for work, visibly upset and thinking about the murder. He looks at Rye's wallet. Ed tells Peggy that he'll be staying home from work because there is too much to do to clean up after the murder. Peggy considers that she should maybe stay home too, because of the bruise on her eye from Ed accidentally hitting her, but he convinces her to go in.

After Dodd finishes eating with his mother, he privately asks Hanzee whether Hanzee is with him. Hanzee agrees that he is. Dodd tells him that Bear has thrown in with their mother, and that that's his loss. He commands Hanzee to retrieve Rye and bring him to Dodd first, as he will need Rye on his side to maintain control.

Peggy stops in at the butcher shop where Ed works, to tell the butcher that Ed won't be coming in because of food poisoning. She then goes to work at the hair salon, where her female boss checks out her butt and tries to convince her to take her seminar and to not put her husband before her own needs. Her boss also questions Peggy about where the toilet paper they'd stocked up on went. Peggy feigns ignorance.

Lou talk to his boss and recants what he'd earlier said about the murders being a local matter. His boss agrees to allow him to get back in on the case, and Lou tells his boss that he'll coordinate with Hank and get up to ND the next day.

Mike Milligan and the Kitchen brothers go to the still-closed typewriter store to question the owner about Rye's whereabouts. Mike physically threatens the man until he cracks, telling Mike that he only told Rye to talk to the judge. Satisfied, Milligan and the Kitchen brothers leave the typewriter salesman, who is wondering what happened to the judge.

Ed cleans up the scene of Rye' murder. He retrieves Rye's body from the freezer, looking at it blankly. He then burns his clothes in the fireplace and stands naked before the fire, solemnly watching them burn.

Betsy goes to chemotherapy. Later on, Betsy, Lou, and Molly drive out by the Waffle Hut on the way to get lunch as a family. Lou is compelled to pull over and go inside to look at the crime scene once more, telling Betsy that something isn't adding up. Inside the still-shuttered Waffle Hut, Lou notes the bug spray can that the Judge threatened Rye with.

Outside, while Lou is investigating, Molly and Betsy build a snowman. As Molly goes to get some sticks for the snowman, she finds a popped balloon. When Betsy goes over to see the balloon, she spots a gun. She shows it to Lou, who takes it into evidence. Mike Milligan and the Kitchen brothers drive by at that point, and exchange looks with Lou.

Farther down the road, Hank pulls the Kitchen brothers and Milligan's car over. Hank asks to see their IDs and takes down the license plate information. He also asks what size shoes they wear and if they're carrying weapons. Milligan assures Hank that he has nothing to worry about with them and that they were just headed south and stopped to get some waffles on their way through the town. Milligan and Hank have a tense stand off before Hank lets them go. He tells Milligan that he has their license plate number and will be checking to be sure they left the state as expected, and if not, he'll have them brought in for questioning. Milligan and the Kitchen brothers drive off.

Ed drives over to the butcher shop. He waits until the butcher leaves and shuts down for the night before pulling up. While secluded he sees Peggy get offered a ride home by her boss. Ed unlocks the butcher shop door and drags Rye's wrapped-up body into the shop. He locks the door but leaves the light on.

At her house, Peggy lets her boss in to use the bathroom. While in the bathroom, the boss sees all of the toilet paper that Peggy swiped from the salon. While waiting for her boss to finish, Peggy walks over to the garage looking for Ed. Her boss walks over and sees the hole in the car. Peggy covers it up by telling her that Ed had a few too many drinks and crashed the car the night before. Her boss flirtatiously asks Peggy if she's a bad girl. Peggy, flustered, tells her goodnight and shows her out.

Hank goes to join Lou at the Waffle House. Lou tells Hank about how the way the cook's body fell reminded him of a death he saw in Vietnam. Hank tells Lou that he had a similar experience: in World War II he saw a German hang himself and nearly twenty years later was reminded of that scene when he responded to a suicide back at home. Hank comments on the difference between WWII and the Vietnam War, and suggests that sometimes he wonders whether the Vietnam War veterans brought the war home with them.

Ed grinds Rye's body. Meanwhile, Rye's mother lies with his father in their bed, Dodd is deep in thought, and Hanzee is out looking for Rye. Lou drives by the butcher shop, and pulls over, having noticed the light on. He knocks on the door, and a frazzled Ed comes out to greet him. Lou asks to pick up some bacon for Molly, so she can have it when she wakes up. Ed notices that one of Rye's fingers has slid under the backroom door into the shop area, but manages to narrowly prevent Lou from seeing it and hustles him out of the shop. Ed gets back to work disposing of Rye's body, shutting the butcher shop lights off.