With Bartlet back in the Oval Office, and back in his wife's bad books, the hunt for a Vice President begins.

Deputy counsel Joe Quincy is quietly enlisted by Toby to approach the ailing Chief Justice about possible retirement. With Josh still incapable of lobbying effectively, Leo brings in help to hammer out the budget, but success looks a long way off with a hostile Speaker making negotiations tricky.

President Bartlet refuses to let Speaker of the House Haffley hold him hostage on the budget and allows the government to be shut down.

The president and staff are about to head for Brussels to sign an international free trade deal that Josh has just spent a lot of time and effort negotiating, to nearly everyone's satisfaction; at the 11th hour, the CEO of an IBM-like company tells Josh that the first effect of the new agreement, of which his company is a huge beneficiary, will be the immediate transfer of 17,000 programming jobs to India; the head of the communications workers' union, which is representing the affected programmers, brings one of the programmers to Josh's office, and they refuse to leave, leading Josh to question the underlying adverse effects of the trade deal. Throughout the episode, Ryan tries to make Josh care that he's completing his internship that day, while Donna pesters Josh to bring her on the Brussels trip in an effort to make her a more active player in west wing activities, eventually leading to a trade-off that will mean even bigger things for Donna in the long run.

The President finds himself at odds with Leo, and the entire country, on his position regarding retaliation for the bombing in Gaza.

Josh maintains a vigil beside Donna's bed in hospital, and needles Colin over his background and relationship with Donna. President Bartlet is determined to reject the unanimous demands of Congress, the American public, and his entire staff to retaliate for the roadside bombing. Leo tries to find a way to talk the President around while Kate tries various long-shot attempts at getting the Israelis and Palestinians to negotiate at Camp David.

Josh returns from Germany in time to voice concerns about Leo; the Israelis and Palenstinians meet at Camp David with little chance of an agreement; the President and Leo's differences over the Middle East crisis reach a breaking point.

Leo is found in the woods and rushed to the hospital; the staff struggle to hold the peace deal together without a Chief of Staff; the President neglects his duties out of loyalty and guilt towards Leo; Donna arrives back in the USA.

The Speaker of the House deliberately calls a vote on stem cell research when he knows that Democrats will be away from Washington; Donna, Cliff, Matt, and Josh must put aside their differences to foil the plan. Kate is shocked when a minor hunting mishap on the Canadian border threatens to become a major international incident. A Japanese economist who has been President Bartlet's arch-rival since college is attending a formal dinner at the White House, creating a potentially explosive situation. Toby tries to avoid meeting with a group of middle school children who want a constitutional amendment lowering the voting age.