The team works to clear Hotch's name after he's arrested by the DOJ for conspiracy.

The BAU investigates a spooky local ghost story of the "Tall Man" and the clues it provides when two people go missing in the woods of East Allegheny's Dead Man's Conservatory, and a third mysteriously surfaces the following day with limited details as to what happened to her friends. To assist with the case, JJ reluctantly returns to her hometown, triggering emotional flashbacks to age 11 and her older sister's tragic death.

JJ is in the hospital clinging to life having been seriously wounded in Everett Lynch and his daughter Grace Lynch's successful escape from custody. Besides Will, Reid is standing vigil at the hospital, he who is angry at himself for not realizing sooner that JJ was in trouble. If JJ doesn't make it, Reid will not only lose arguably his best friend, but he and she will not have been able to clear the air about the strain that has existed between the two of them since their previous case. Reid is also torn in two different directions emotionally as he is called by the facility where he recently moved his mother, they wanting him to come right away. With the Lynches, the team knows they they have disrupted Everett's plans - he a highly organized man - and thus Everett and Grace will be working on the fly. The team believes they have to find any connection that either Everett and/or Grace would have in the DC area for that support they need, including financial, to go off the grid. If Prentiss is able to speak to JJ about the shooting, they may get another piece to what is happening with Everett and Grace. Also working for them is the fact that they still have Roberta in custody, who, despite being a criminal in her own right, would probably want to protect Grace at all cost, perhaps even at Everett's expense.

Voit's internal struggles with himself lead him to a desperate kidnapping. But Rossi's obsession brings the BAU closer to the truth than they've ever been.