A picnicking couple encounter a dead body, which proves to be that of a first lieutenant in the US Marine Corps; after Gibbs chats with Dr. Ryan, he and the team investigate; the gang see that the victim had plummeted from somewhere in the sky after he had first been beaten, stabbed, and shot; in one of his pockets they find a challenge coin, which they trace to a woman commander in the Navy Chaplain Corps, who is on duty with a relief team in Colombia. Ducky finds curious clues, and Abby interprets them (connecting to Colombia); Ziva communicates with Monique, a contact in Colombia, who repeats a rumor about the disappearance of the Marine and the chaplain; Ryan gives Gibbs a tip. Tony, Ziva, and a second woman chaplain join Monique in Colombia; someone else provides fireworks; then Gibbs interviews a mule. McGee continues to dig, then Ziva and Monique meet a couple and get answers. Tony, Ziva, and two chaplains fly back home with their new friends.

Gibbs's barber confides in him about the former's son; Gibbs quietly asks around. Meanwhile the gang investigate the disappearance of $120K of Navy money; they suspect a Marine and his girlfriend. Gibbs and company work out both cases.