A cryptic message penned in human blood is discovered at a national monument. As the Jeffersonian team embarks on a scavenger hunt to solve the case, they realize their tech-savvy suspect remains one step ahead of them. Meanwhile, Booth and Brennan search for the perfect home for their new family.

"Hacktivist" and suspected serial killer Christopher Pelant is back in court, but the team's efforts to pin another murder on him don't go as planned.

Having been accused of murder, Brennan is on the run from the FBI, with help from her father Max. Booth and the Jeffersonian team are convinced evil tech genius Christopher Pelant has manipulated key evidence in the case to pinpoint Brennan as the prime suspect. Then, an anonymous tip leads the team to the remains of a high school guidance counselor that may hold the key to proving Brennan's innocence.

After Hodgins and Angela are drugged and wake up to a bloody corpse hanging in the canopy of their bed and flower petals around their son Michael's crib, they are forced to believe that Pelant is back for revenge against Hodgins. Although Hodgins wants to go after Pelant directly, Booth knows it's best to work within the system and not go against protocol. Meanwhile, as the Jeffersonian team investigates the corpse, they discover the victim was a Special Forces agent working for the world's biggest supplier of mercenaries, and Angela and Hodgins decide to start an investigation without the rest of the Jeffersonian team for the sake of their family.

When evil tech genius Christopher Pelant returns to toy with the Jeffersonian team in their newest investigation, they discover that the string of murders that have been occurring are tied to FBI agents close to Booth. Meanwhile, as the investigation unfolds, Sweets realizes that the evidence seems all too familiar to him and Brennan starts evaluating her relationship with Booth when signs begin to point to him as a potential target of Pelant's.

The team devises a plan to use a donated cadaver to draw out Pelant; Sweets returns to work and believes Agent Flynn isn't who he seems.

The team investigates when the remains of a girl who died 18 years earlier are delivered to Brennan and Booth's house; Brennan dreams about Pelant.

Děj nás zavádí do roku 1950 v Hollywoodu. Brennanová je detektivem u losangeleské policie a musí čelit mimo jiné i sexuálnímu harašení ze strany kolegů. Booth je zlodějem šperků a v novém případu je obviněn z vraždy bohatého prominenta. Brennanové na tom něco nehraje a proto se s Boothem spojí, aby našla pravého vraha.

Při zkoumání neznámých lidských pozůstatků a porovnávání stop z místa činu, roste podezření, že obětí se stal žák sériového vraha Christophera Pelanta, zločince, který byl dlouhou dobu noční můrou Bootha, Brennanové a celého týmu. Vyšetřovatelé musí hledat spojitosti, které by je dovedli k napodobiteli zločinů jejich dávného osobního nepřítele.