NCIS investigates when a missing petty officer is located, though her husband has mysteriously disappeared. The petty officer, Kelly, was kidnapped. Her husband, a night watchman at a law firm, has vanished without a trace.

The partners at the law firm indicate that the husband, Chris, quit five days before, and that Kelly had previously cheated on Chris.

The investigation uncovers that the couple had heavy debts, a valuable life insurance policy, and Kelly's previous affair as possible motives for Chris to hire a criminal to kidnap his wife, though Kelly's sister insisted that they were strong.

They discover Chris's body in the trunk of his car. He had been attempting to get his and his wife's passports so they could flee the country together.

One of the partners gives up information that Chris embezzled money belonging to one of their clients, a  very wealthy government contractor.

The contractor, however, states that the loss of such an amount would only annoy him, not make him murderous. Gibbs and company believe him. An investigator from the NCIS finance department uncovers that the information the partner gave them was altered to implicate Chris.

The team arrests the partner as Chris's murderer. Chris was in fact a whistleblower, not a criminal.