The BAU unit travels to NYC to investigate a series of murders that appears to have been committed by a vigilante conducting revenge on former criminals who have been released by the justice system.

The BAU investigates a serial rapist who had been attacking young women at religious schools and stopped for six weeks. He has resumed his attacks, but is now targeting a different demographic of women. Elle makes a decision that could end her career with the BAU.

The BAU is called to investigate a series of murders of prostitutes in Washington D.C. and Reid suspects a teenager he met asking for his help is guilty of the crimes. The case becomes complicated when a congresswoman, who about to make a speech to praise the city's lower crime rate, threatens to take away the case if Hotchner calls a press conference to discuss it.

In this conclusion of a special two-part episode, finding the serial killer becomes critical to the BAU when the team realizes Reid is being held captive and a live feed of him being tortured is shown on the internet. Meanwhile, Reid's troubled childhood is revealed in flashback sequences as he drifts in and out of consciousness.

The team investigates a serial killer who is targeting women at a small college in Flagstaff, Arizona. The BAU shuts down the campus, creates a detailed profile of the unsub, and arrests a suspect. However, the team members begin to have doubts about themselves when another woman is killed while the suspect is in custody.

In Milwaukee, a series of women have been found murdered with their hearts crudely removed. The BAU is assigned to the case, but they are short three members: Gideon, who is missing, Hotch, who is on suspension and Prentiss, who resigns her commission to join the Foreign Service. Supervisor Strauss steps in as lead, but she doesn't handle herself well in the field.

As a team member fights for life, the BAU continues the search for an attacker that leads the unit to believe the assailant could be someone close to the investigation.

The BAU faces one of its toughest cases when the team is called to New York City to determine if a series of random shootings is the work of one serial killer or a team of killers working together.

While investigating the abduction of a young boy in Las Vegas, Dr. Reid starts to have dreams that might help reveal buried memories from his childhood.

Agent Prentiss has a personal connection to one of the victims in a series of deaths with religious overtones.

The BAU tracks a serial killer who chooses junkies, prostitutes and the homeless off the streets of Detroit as his victims and takes them across the border into Canada, and an agent's life is in peril.

As Rossi, Morgan and JJ profile a killer who is targeting an emergency room doctor, Prentiss realizes that Hotch is missing.

A group of suspects with a pack mentality who kill for the thrill of it are the subjects of a BAU manhunt.

The BAU team races to help Hotchner find The Reaper and save his family before it's too late.