We open on Kate looking at a dating web site. A female colleague thinks her search criteria makes her sound cynical. Kate denies being such. The female colleague then gives Kate a file on a terminally ill cancer patient that’s in a hospice, who wants to report a crime before he dies.
Kate goes to see the patient, Mr. Carlson, who tells Kate that he wants to report a murder. He says it happened in 1992, that he isn’t sure who was killed or where it happened but then says that he did it.
At the college, Lewicki gives Daniel a rare recording he found at a yard sale. Daniel is ecstatic and thanks Lewicki, who also gives him a Bach recording but Daniel says he hates Bach. Then, Kate comes and asks for Daniel’s help with Carlson. She tells him that before he went straight Carlson pulled off a series of bank heists. Then, Kate says Carlson told her that during a road trip for one of these heists, he ran over a young girl. Carlson added that it happened in one of the towns where he robbed a bank but at the time he was on meth so he doesn’t remember what town. Kate then tells Daniel that Carlson has terminal brain cancer. Daniel replies that the tumor could be affecting his memory or be causing delusions. Kate wants Daniel to determine if Carlson’s story is reliable so she can convince her boss to let her pursue it. Daniel then suggests a brain scan.
Kate, Daniel and Carlson’s doctor, Steve, look at his brain scan and the massive tumor. The doctor then adds that Carlson was on chemo to buy him some more time but had to quit because it was making him too sick. He then says he wanted to do another scan but Carlson refused. Daniel then says that the tumor isn’t in a location that would cause delusions, but asks the doctor for a new scan to see if the tumor has grown. The doctor agrees, says goodbye to Kate and they make some meaningful eye contact before her and Daniel leave.
Kate and Daniel talk to Carlson, who tells them that he didn’t remember hitting the girl until a week later when he had come off the meth. Daniel replies that it could be a “false memory,” but Carlson is sure he killed the girl. Carlson also remembers long gold hair spread across his windshield and a lot of blood. Before they leave, Carlson begs them to find the girl’s family because he needs to tell them that he’s sorry before he dies.
Daniel goes home to find his mother, Margaret there. She tells him that Lewicki let her in. He tells her that he’s glad but surprised to see her. He asks her if anything is wrong and she just says she felt like popping in for a visit. He then asks her how long she was thinking of staying because he wants to spend time with her but has a busy schedule. Margaret looks around the house as she tells Daniel that she’s capable of entertaining herself. She then asks him why there isn’t a single picture of her in the house. Before he could answer, Lewicki comes downstairs. Daniel asks him why he couldn’t warn him about his mother showing up, Lewicki replies, “I thought your mother passed.” Daniel looks back and his mother is gone as Lewicki answers a knock at the door. Its Kate with an update about the number of bank robberies back in 1992 but a sheriff in Yates City found an unsolved vehicular homicide that happened within a few days of a bank job. But, there’s a glitch, the victim was a boy but then Kate shows Daniel the photo the sheriff emailed her of the boy and he had long blond hair like Carlson described.
Daniel and Kate go to see Carlson, who is looking much better. They tell him what they’ve learned and how he’ll get his chance to apologize. All of a sudden, Carlson thinks it was a “false memory” and denies killing anyone. Then, Kate shows Carlson the picture of the victim, Barry Miles, who lived in Yates City and was only 15 years old. Kate then adds that Carlson ran him over in front of his little brother and Miles’ mother, Eileen, never got to see him graduate from high school. Then, a woman comes into the room. It’s Carlson’s wife, Pam. They then tell Daniel and Kate that Carlson’s new brain scan showed that his cancer is gone.
As Daniel and Kate leave, she thinks it’s “a load of crap” that Carlson recounts his statement when he finds out he’s going to live so he doesn’t have to go to jail. Daniel also finds it odd that he had an inoperable brain tumor and now he doesn’t. He thinks the initial diagnosis was a mistake. Margaret appears in the back of Kate’s car. Daniel then says that he wants to see Carlson’s newest brain scan.
Kate and Daniel go to see Steve, who also thinks it was a mistake but he rechecked both the old and new scans and shows each to Daniel and Kate. The tumor is gone, it isn’t a mistake. Steve thinks the chemo had a delayed reaction, which caused Carlson to go to into spontaneous remission, which is extremely rare but happens. Kate then asks Steve if the chemo was working why did Carlson continue to get sick even after he stopped it? Daniel thinks it was psychosomatic. Steve then says he’ll probably live a long time. Kate adds, “In jail.” Kate moves to leave but Steve asks to speak to her alone. Daniel leaves and Steve asks Kate out for coffee. She happily says she’d love to but if the case ever went to trial he could be called as a witness, which would be awkward. Steve suggests maybe they could when the case was over. Kate replies, “Maybe.”
Kate and Daniel go to see Barry Miles’ younger brother, Jimmy, and his mother, Eileen. He says he was walking down Main Street with Barry but it was all a fog. Kate asks him if he remembers the car. “Blue, Green, maybe,” he replies. She then asks about the driver. He thinks it was a man but isn’t sure. Daniel then suggests “cognitive interviewing,” which is similar to hypnosis. Eileen thinks they are giving them false hope and Jimmy thinks it’s useless to try. Then, Jimmy has to leave for work but Daniel gives him his card in case he changes his mind.
In Daniel’s office at the college, Margaret reappears. Daniel is worried his students will see him talking to himself. Margaret doesn’t understand why he would do that and Daniel tells her that he’s a schizophrenic. She says that he’s not but he tells her that he is and was diagnosed a few years after she died. Margaret apologizes and says that she can take care of him. He replies that she can’t because she’s dead. Margaret then asks Daniel why he’s being so mean to her. He apologizes but then Jimmy comes knocking. Margaret disappears and Jimmy tells Daniel that he didn’t want to get his mother’s hopes up and wants to give “cognitive interviewing a shot.”
Daniel is “cognitively interviewing” Jimmy. Daniel records the session as he tells Jimmy to go back to the day of his brother’s hit-and-run. Jimmy says Barry is ahead of him on Main Street and it’s hot and muggy out. Jimmy says he called for him to wait up but he didn’t hear him because he had his Walkman on. Jimmy says Barry crossed the street and didn’t see the car coming fast. He can’t see the car’s color. He calls to warn him about the car but he can’t hear him. Then, we see a young Jimmy flashback to seeing Barry on top of the blue car, not moving. Daniel asks him about the driver. He thinks it’s a man but he can’t see his face. He then says he sees something else.
The female colleague asks Kate how the online dating is going. She tells her that she met a doctor, who seems to be interested. Then, Daniel comes in and tells Kate that he might be able to prove that Carlson hit Barry. He tells her that Jimmy thinks the guy who drove the car that hit Barry had an anchor tattoo on his left shoulder.
Daniel and Kate go to Carlson’s house. They go there to find the police carrying away Carlson’s dead body. He was shot but he also has a cut on his throat. He also had an anchor tattoo on his left shoulder.
Kate brings in Pam, Carlson’s wife in for questioning. Pam tells Kate that she was out running when Carlson was killed. Kate then notes that Pam and Carlson maxed out their credit cards and were almost $50,000 in debt just over the past few months. Kate doesn’t understand why Carlson was spending money he didn’t have and why Pam went along with it since she would be the one left with the debt after Carlson died. Kate then says that Carlson had a big life insurance policy. Pam says Carlson convinced her that it was okay to spend the money and that she could pay off the credit cards with the insurance money. Kate then accuses Pam of killing Carlson for the insurance money so she wouldn’t be left with the debt. Pam denies this and says she convinced Carlson to recant his confession. Daniel watches behind a two-way mirror as Margaret appears again. Pam says once Carlson found out he was going to live, she thought they were being given a second chance and reiterates that she didn’t kill him. Pam credits Carlson’s transformation from despondent to “sweet again” to his therapy.
Kate and Daniel go see Carlson’s therapist, George. Kate gives him Pam’s signer waiver, which waives confidentiality. George then says that Carlson had changed his mind about recanting his confession and wanted to turn himself in. He says came to him with headaches and thought the cancer was returning. George then says that he thought Carlson’s guilt over the hit-and-run caused his cancer and urged him to turn himself in. George then says he’s a “neuropositive integration coach.” Daniel isn’t familiar with the term. George explains his form of therapy and how he’s had success with curing ulcers, colitis and even cancer. Daniel then asks if he thinks he cured Carlson’s cancer. George says that Carlson did that on his own using his methods. Daniel thinks it’s absurd and insists the chemo cured Carlson not George’s therapy. George then says he told Carlson to stop the chemo and told him it was killing him. Daniel calls him a “quack” and wants to leave but Kate then asks George if he could think of anyone who wanted to hurt Carlson. George says Carlson had a girlfriend back in 1992 and he was afraid she would get in trouble if he confessed. George told Carlson to tell the girlfriend he was going to confess and she got angry.
After leaving George, Daniel tells Kate that when his mother got cancer she tried all sorts of alternative treatments and there were a bunch of quacks like George giving her false hope. Kate apologizes.
Kate brings Carlson’s old girlfriend, Angie, in for questioning as Daniel watches behind the two-way mirror. She’s now married with two teenage sons. Kate says her husband must be a secure guy since she was in touch with her ex. Angie denies being in contact with him and says she hadn’t spoken to him in 20 years. Kate says Angie saw him three weeks ago and then Angie asks if she needs a lawyer. Kate then tells her that she has a witness that says Carlson came to see Angie three weeks ago and told her that he was going to confess. Kate thinks when Carlson was robbing banks, Angie was helping him. Angie then denies knowing anything about the hit-and-run. Kate then says if she left the scene of the accident and let Barry die, that wouldn’t go over too well. Angie again denies killing Carlson and says she was a spa when he was murdered.
Kate tells Daniel that Angie’s alibi checked out. They are trying to figure out who else had motive to kill Carlson when Margaret reappears and says that Kate and Daniel are cute together when they’re brainstorming. He tells her to stop and Kate wonders what he’s talking about. Margaret then tells Daniel that a “mother’s love is forever.” This makes him think of Barry and Jimmy’s angry mother. Kate says she didn’t know Carlson’s name. Daniel says they told Carlson Barry’s last name and about his mother and thinks he went to apologize to her.
Kate and Daniel find Eileen passed out after drinking at her house. Daniel then finds a bloody knife in the kitchen.
Kate takes Eileen to the station for questioning. Eileen denies murdering Carlson as Daniel watches. Kate then sets up a scenario then Eileen asks for a lawyer. Then, Kate says maybe Jimmy killed Carlson since he saw Barry get run over. Eileen starts screaming for Kate to leave Jimmy alone. Eileen then says Carlson came to see her after Kate and Daniel left. Carlson came to apologize and told her that he was turning himself in. Eileen shut the door on him. He was leaving her a note in her mailbox when she came up behind him with a knife and told him to leave. Meanwhile, Margaret tells Daniel that she likes Eileen and reminds him about Jimmy. He then bursts in and says that Eileen couldn’t kill Carlson because Jimmy needed her. Eileen then says she killed Barry because that day she gave him a hard time about his hair and he put on the Walkman to drown her out. If he hadn’t had the headphones on, he would have heard Jimmy warn him about the car. Daniel tells her that she isn’t responsible. Eileen then says Carlson said he wouldn’t blame her for killing him. She then said Carlson told he was writing a book with George about being cured of cancer. Carlson wanted to give her the profits from the book. She told him not to write the book and he said he wouldn’t and then left. Daniel thinks Carlson scraping the book could have made George angry enough to kill him.
They go to see George and ask him why he didn’t tell them about the book. Kate then asks him how he reacted when Carlson the book was a no go. George says he didn’t know and didn’t know Carlson went to apologize to Eileen but was proud he did so. George keeps insisting he cured Carlson while Kate says he killed him. He asks why he would do that and Kate says that he stood in the way of the book. He then asks them to leave.
At Daniel’s house, he’s talking to Margaret about how angry he is that they can’t prove George killed Carlson. Margaret says that George is like Daniel and only wants to help people. Daniel disagrees. She then says the Daniel she knew was more open-minded. Daniel then flashes back to a young Daniel telling a sick Margaret about an alternative therapy. Then, Daniel remembers he pushed her to get those “crazy treatments.” He apologizes but she wants to listen to Bach. He says he hates Bach and she replies, “Since when.” Daniel then flashes back to listening to Bach with her when she was sick. Daniel then says he stopped listening to Bach when he realized he killed her. He starts to cry and says he shouldn’t have told her to stop the chemo. Margaret then implies that she didn’t have cancer and they were shown someone else’s scan. Daniel then realizes that the scans were mixed up in Carlson’s case.
Daniel goes to Kate and tells her they need to exhume Carlson’s body so he can rescan his brain.
Kate goes to see Steve. She reminds him how Daniel didn’t believe that Carlson was miraculously cured despite the scans and how Steve said a mix-up wasn’t possible. Kate then says Daniel thinks there was a mix-up and that Steve is covering to avoid a malpractice suit. Steve denies this and Kate agrees. Steve then shows Kate the scans again and how a mix-up wasn’t possible since Carlson’s scans were labeled. Kate then says Daniel thinks the first scan was mislabeled or that it was someone else’s. Steve says it isn’t possible. Kate then shows the scan Daniel had done on Carlson’s exhumed body and the brain isn’t the same as in the scans Steve had shown them that he said were Carlson’s. Kate thinks Steve is a good guy who made a mistake and asks him to explain. Steve then says when he diagnosed Carlson he didn’t know he was looking at the wrong scan. When Daniel suggested a rescan, Steve saw his error. Steve had been looking at another patient’s brain scans, Brett Carmichael. He told him that he didn’t have cancer when he did. He called him but got his wife. Brett had gone back to work because Steve said that he was okay. He fell off scaffolding to his death due to the dizzy spells. Steve just re-labeled Carmichael’s previous clean scan as Carlson’s. Then, George called him wanting Carlson’s scans for the book and knew he’d be exposed. Steve then said he went to Carlson, who was angry he went through chemo for nothing. Carlson then pulled a gun on Steve and in the struggle over the gun it went off killing Carlson.
At Daniel’s house, Margaret says she’s leaving. He says that he was glad to see her. Then, Lewicki comes in and asks if his mother is still there. Daniel says she left. Then he asks if she’ll be back.
The female colleague asks Kate about going out with the doctor she told her about. She tells her that he was a killer and knows why she’s cynical.
Daniel lectures to his class about the brain as Kate arrests Steve, Eileen and Jimmy look at pictures of Barry and Daniel listens to Bach.