Hilde thinks the guy watching her at the pond was Richie Fife, but Matt makes her look at the evidence, and there isn’t enough to say who that man was. He encourages her to follow the story, which is the poison pond that appears to be killing birds and fish.

Matt’s new editor has issues with him pursuing more significant stories, and he’s feeling the stress.

Matt and Bridget struggle with how to handle Izzy getting drunk at a party. Instead of grounding her, she’s going to be interning at Bridget’s office.

Kim gives Bridget a necklace with a bullhorn charm as a thank you for helping her fight the PTA members trying to have her fired. She also asks that Matt and Bridget come to the school to discuss a drinking incident involving Izzy and Jessica Fife.

Turns out the night the girls got drunk, Izzy and Jessica egged the school, and it’s on the security cameras, but Jessica remembers none of it. She’s had a problem with alcohol for a while now, and she blacks out when she drinks. Her parents decide to send her to a special boarding school so she can get help. Izzy is devastated over having lost her only friend.

Several of the officers in the Sheriff’s office have been calling out and worrying Trip. Turns out they’ve been meeting with former Sheriff Briggs. When Trip talks to Frank Jr, she learns that he hasn’t spoken to his father in months.

Ex-Sheriff Briggs goes to see Matt to ask him to get Frank Jr to talk to him. Frank Sr. has written a letter to his son and wants Matt to read it. Matt and Hilde suggest Frank Sr. show his son he changed instead of telling him.

Someone throws a brick through Junior Johnson’s window while Bridget and Izzy are there helping him file an injunction. Everyone assumes the incident has to do with Wott Management.

Frank Sr. apologizes to his son, but Frank Jr tells his father that he needs to talk to Sam if he really wants to make amends. Senior balks at this.

Frank Sr. tells Trip that her own deputies threw the brick through her father’s window to send a message to her. He doesn’t condone their cowardly behavior, gives her their names, and tells Trip to take them down. Frank Jr is proud of his dad.

Matt and Hilde bring Matt’s father to a doctor’s appointment. Hilde wonders if he’s been exposed to something that’s caused his cognitive decline since he spent years fishing at the poison pond. The doctor says it’s possible, but they’d have to know what they were looking for to find it.

Hilde gets a kit from the hardware store to check the water at the pond, but she finds a giant gate has been put up around the pond and guard dogs inside.

Later, Hilde says she’s sleeping at Spoons so they can try and sneak through the gates and get their water sample. Instead, they find a secret hazmat cleanup crew there. At the site, Hilde takes a picture of the man who was spying on her and realizes that he looks nothing like Richie Fife. She’s devastated over how her bias has affected the story.

Soon after, everyone gathers at the pond for an announcement. The pond is gone. A “corporate sponsor” helped clean it up and plans to have a community garden in its place. They claim the pond was contaminated with toxic algae, but Hilde is upset because she’ll never know for sure with all the water removed.