Amy brings flowers for Capt. Holt after the death of his estranged uncle. Jake tries to compete with her in expressing his concern by sending an email from his personal account. However, he forgets to turn off his "from my stinky butt" signature and it does not go over well. Terry and Capt. Holt are supposed to go to a charity event in Brighton Beach, leaving Jake in charge of the precinct on Thanksgiving Day. 

Jake wasn't the Capt.'s first choice, after donating too much blood to a blood drive. Amy, his first choice, has ridiculous plans with her boyfriend. Terry and Capt. Holt are en route to the event when Capt. Holt once again encourages him to stand up to his massive brother in law. Back at the precinct, Boyle drops a mysterious package filled with powder on the ground, leading Jake to call in the Hazmat team to access the situation.

It turns out three other precincts receives similar packages which turned out to be filled with harmless baking powder. The precinct has to run tests on the substance and is immediately placed on lockdown. Capt. Holt convinces Terry to travel to his home to check on the situation at the precinct, much to Terry's dismay since his brother in law will be there.

The Hazmat teams finds that the powder isn't baking powder and could therefore be toxic. It will take several hours to discover what is it. The 42 civilians trapped in the precinct are divided into four factions: the Dirty Dozen, The Normies, The Doink Meisters and The Vegetable Medley,

Jake and the team try to keep morale up. Boyle and some hookers entertain the precinct doing Beyonce's Single Ladies dance. One on the lawyers starts doing stand-up. They attempt to feed everyone on a few orders of takeout that Jake paid for with Boyle's money. Some of the Dirty Dozen start a revolt saying they need heat.

Zeke (Terry's brother in law) eases up on Terry, saying that he too has a jerk for a boss. Terry uncomfortably agrees with him calling his boss "Capt. Holt the dolt". Gina melodramatically writes up a last will and testament leaving Rosa nothing. Jake reveals to the stand-up comedian lawyer the true nature of the lockdown but urges him to keep it quiet. He immediately induces a panic when he announces over megaphone that there's anthrax.

Terry keeps lying to Zeke about Capt. Holt after making several sandwiches and stealing a pie, saying they're for the Capt. The riot in the station leads to a small couch fire. Jake calls the Capt., who expresses his disappointment and says he and Terry are on their way. Jake tries to put Amy in charge but she refuses. Jake eventually takes control, giving everyone assignments. The powder turns out to be harmless. A fired IT specialist turns out to be behind it all while Jake fixes everything up in time to show a clearly impressed Capt. Holt.