Rick sits alone in his room, with a piece of glass against his throat. But he's unable to slice his throat.

Five years after the bridge, Rick and others look to speed up their path toward citizenship within the CRM by killing various walkers in the woods. And Rick is chained to a CRM officer. Rick cuts off his arm to be released from the officer and runs off into the woods, but he's tased before he can get away.

Rick dreams of meeting Michonne on a park bench, where he asks her for directions before the two talk.

A Rick voiceover explains how they can't leave the CRM. And after six years, you can leave the outskirts and get into the city, though Rick had always vowed to get away.

Okafor approaches Rick and says he approached the Major about Rick. Rick tried to escape and was imprisoned in the past, but Okafor vouched for him to be a consignee. He kept trying to escape, but he couldn't.

Okafor tells Rick he left a uniform for him in his apartment.

Thorne thanks Rick for showing him that she won't be able to get away.

Rick looks out at the dilapidated city of Philadelphia and is approached by Esteban. It's revealed Rick didn't speak for two years. It's Esteban's last day as a consignee, and he's getting inside the walls.

Rick joins the army and is fitted with a protesthic-type arm. He trains with Thorne in combat and flight simulation.

Rick dreams of Michonne again on the bench before Okafor wakes him up. Okafor takes Rick and Thorne to an abandoned area, telling them he wants them to be leaders and help turn the CRM into what it needs to be. He wants to change the army without them knowing it, and Rick decides to play along.

Thorne tells Rick the CRM is all she has left and that this is all they have left.

Rick voices that the army found Portland and Omaha, making a coalition of three cities. Though the two don't know where the third is.

Major General Beale finds Rick looking at the city and tells him they're relatively secret. They were able to stop the bombing of the city, thanks to Okafor, who was with the Air Force and bombed 4,000 Marines, switching sides. Beale asks if Okafor is up to anything, and he says no.

Okafor tells Rick and Thorne there's a reckoning coming.

Rick sees Esteban in the city and shows him the tunnel map, asking him to tell him where he leads. He tells Esteban he can't stop trying to get home, or he'll die trying. Esteban tells him where it leads and the code to open a padlock grate.

Rick is on a mission to an abandoned chemical plant. He gets a walker body, cuts off his hand, and attaches his tags to it. He plans to make them believe he's dead as he escapes through the tunnel. But he's approached by a walker before he can set off explosives, as well as a little girl.

Rick rescues the little girl instead of escaping, and Thorne tells him she saw the whole thing. She then demands he call it into their superiors.

He asks Thorne for help, and she says she is helping him, as Okafor knows about him and his life.

Rick confronts Okafor about what he knows, and he tells him he found Rick's note in a bottle from his third escape attempt. He looked through his phones and notes, and he knows about his life. He and Rick fight, and he admits that he bombed Atlanta and Los Angeles and was going to do the same to Philadelphia, but he didn't want to see another city vanish, so he killed 4,000 people, including his wife, to save the city.

Rick asks to be let go, but Okafor says no, and he asks him to kill him, but he won't. Okafor tells him he's moving him to a district where they'll create a college into a battle post over the next year. He and Thorne will be project leaders, and they will be his step towards power.

Thorne shows Rick news coverage that Omaha has been destroyed, with 90,000 people killed. And they are now an alliance of two. Thorne tells him about the girl they saved and reiterates to him that they're in the right place.

Rick writes one last letter to Michonne as he works on his project. He says he tries to save the world by looking ahead and no longer sees her or the dead. He then burns all his mementos and tells her he tried but failed.

Rick dreams of Michonne, and the two kiss on the bench.

In the present day, Okafor and Rick are in a helicopter, and Rick details a story about his childhood and his father saving him from a fire. He then tells Okafor that he's with him.

Okafor is hit with an explosive while in the helicopter, and it continues to take fire, bringing the aircraft down. Rick and others survive the crash and fire on those who came after them. Michonne is revealed to be one of those who shot at them, and she kills the soldiers and almost kills Rick before removing his mask.