Jay hooks up with a reporter, Nadine contemplates going out with Mike B, Daisy's pregnant, Matt finds a way to make everything about him while he suffers writers block. 

Instead of following Elizabeth, the story bounces from staffer to staffer as they work through the release of an American journalist. Blake brings a new development in the case to Nadine's attention, then he brings Jay in on it when the Special Envoy for Sudan won't share any information with him. The initial concern is that Sudan is looking to trade the journalist for an early end to sanctions against them, but the envoy doesn't think that the child soldier issue is fully resolved in their country. Jay goes home with a Brazilian reporter, and through her finds out that the family is planning on holding a press conference. Nadine calls the family and has them come into the State Department. Elizabeth is called down to talk to them, and the wife and parents reveal that they feel the Chinese government has been more helpful about the situation than the US has been. Elizabeth begins to think that the Chinese may be involved in his captivity, and sets the team to find out why they would be concerned with this journalist. Jay finds out from intelligence that the reporter, Colin, had probably been working on a story about how the Chinese government violated the UN sanctions against Sudan by supplying them with drilling technology in exchange for exclusive rights to the oil that was mined. Elizabeth sets Matt to writing a speech that will get the Chinese and the Sudanese to cooperate and release Colin; he knocks it out of the park after going through a spell of writers block.