The latest episode of NCIS saw the team fighting to help a soldier named Alex Quinn, who is suffering from leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant to survive.
Alez and his mother, Paulette, are talking in his hospital room about his sister, Rebecca, who is overseas and is due to be home soon. He is in need of a bone marrow transplant to survive leukemia. When his mother leaves the room, she sees two soldiers walk toward her and they confirm her daughter was killed in action.
Back at the NCIS building, Jimmy is showing off pictures of his Turducken to Tim. Tony comes in and they discuss holiday plans. Delilah and Tim will be joining Abby at the soup kitchen before dinner at Ducky’s. They wonder about Ellie, who is still in Oklahoma. Jimmy mentions that Gibbs gave Jake a piece of his mind and mentions his vein in his forehead, much to Gibbs’ annoyance when he walks in.
In Oklahoma, Ellie chops wood when her mom, Barbara, comes out to talk to her. Her father is getting her grandparents and they will be there in time for Thanksgiving. She tries to talk to Ellie about taking care of her issues instead of running from them. When Jake calls Ellie’s cell phone, she simply chops it with the axe.
Vance tells Gibbs about Alex Quinn’s situation. The Secretary of Defense wants them to take care of it. Alex has lost a brother as well named William and his other brother, Sean, is nowhere to be found. They want the team to find him so he can be tested to see if he can give bone marrow to his brother.
Paulette talks to Gibbs about Sean and how he stopped talking to the family and fell in with a bad crowd after William’s death. It has been six months since she talked to her son.
Tony and Tim visit Sean’s apartment, accompanied by his landlord, Alton Brinkman. As they look around, Tim opens an air shaft and finds bundles of cash and passports with different names on them with Sean’s photo.
Ellie is at home when her brother, George, comes in for a visit. She figures their mom told him she was there, but he doesn’t know the reason why. They share a warm reunion, but she is hesitant to talk.
Abby shows Gibbs’ pumpkin faces she made of the team for a cornucopia she made. She tries to ask Gibbs about the call with Jake, but he isn’t budging. She tells Gibbs that the bills Sean had were all counterfeit.
Tony, Tim, and Gibbs discuss Sean’s activities, which included casing casinos where he would exchange counterfeit bills. Gibbs mentions contacting the secret service, but Fornell comes to tell them the FBI and Secret Service have been after a group of counterfeiters for a year. Sean only recently came into the game via a man named Thomas Reynolds. But then Reynolds got in trouble and was killed, so Sean came to the FBI as an informant. Fornell tells Gibbs that they can take him to a safehouse where Sean is for his blood.
George and Ellie discuss her situation with Jake. He notices she still has her ring on her finger, but she doesn’t know what to do yet. Her brother tells her how he and his wife are able to get through anything by leaning on one another. Barbara interrupts to tell Ellie she has a call from Tony.
Gibbs, Fornell, and Ducky go to the safehouse, but then see a car’s door open. After sending Ducky back to the car, Gibbs and Fornell go to find FBI Agent Potter, Sean’s handler, who has been shot. Sean is missing.
Tony and Tim talk about Alex’s situation and are looking into information about Sean. Tim remembers Potter was shot with a nine millimeter and it is the same type of weapon registered to an alias of Sean’s.
Ellie hacks into the bone marrow database and is able to find out that there was a match for Alex, but the donor denied the request. She hacks her way in to find out who it was and sees the match, Richard Doogan, is in Leavenworth for double homicide. She tells her brother she is going there to see if he will change his mind.
Jimmy is stitching a turkey in autopsy when Gibbs walks in. Abby comes on the video monitor to tell them that Sean wasn’t the shooter. His DNA was on the same bullet as Potter’s, meaning he was shot as well.
Ellie goes to see Richard and he does agree to be a donor, but he tells her the only way he will do so if he gets a deal for time served so he can get out of prison.
Paulette and Gibbs are talking and she asks if he has children. He talks about his daughter in past tense and she knows he understands her pain. She is afraid of losing Sean and Alex after already losing William and Rebecca. Gibbs says they will find Sean and help Alex. Gibbs asks where Sean would go for safety and she tells him about his boat he had with William.
Tony and Tim go to the boat shed and discuss boat names. When Tony asks Tim to guess what he would name his boat, Tim guesses the correct answer, Codfather. They see blood on a handle door and go inside. Blood leads them into the boat, where they see Sean’s body. After checking his pulse, they see he is alive.
Tony tells Gibbs that while Sean is alive, the doctors ran a panel on his blood and he isn’t a viable donor for his brother. They discuss Doogan, who killed two Iraqui detainees in 2007. Gibbs tells Tony to run point and find out who killed Potter while he has to get on a plane.
Tim visits Abby, who is looking at surveillance footage of Sean in the casinos. She doesn’t see anyone with him and then Tim remembers Sean had only started a few months ago, so they should check from earlier in the year to see who was in the casino multiple times. They get a hit on facial recognition and it turns out to be Alton Brinkman.
Barbara and George are discussing Ellie when she comes downstairs. She tells them she is heading to Leavenworth, but Barbara wonders if it is her responsibility. Ellie reminds her it is his job. George notices a visitor and his description matches Gibbs. Ellie goes to see Gibbs, who tells her he will come with her to Leavenworth since he got a deal for Richard. Barbara and George come out to meet Gibbs.
However, despite a plea deal that would give Doogan a possibility of parole, he still refuses to accept the plea deal. He feels he did the right thing in killing the terrorists. Gibbs tells him he can take the deal or leave it, and Doogan chooses the latter.
Fornell and Tony talk to Brinkman, who refuses to talk. However, when he discovers that they matched his gun to the one that was used to kill Potter and that Sean identified him as his shooter, he agrees to talk. He tells them that he was suspicious when they came looking for Sean and he followed Sean to see him with the fed. He killed Potter and shot Sean so his boss, Malcolm Turro, wouldn’t blame him for what happened. He tells them Turro operates out of a warehouse in Arlington.
At dinner, Barbara talks to Gibbs about Ellie and how she was always independent and going after what she wanted when she was a kid. They are interrupted by the phone and it turns out to be Jake. Ellie coldly tells him she won’t be home for Thanksgiving and hangs up. George goes off about him calling and a fed up Ellie tells them it is her business and not theirs. As she leaves, Gibbs gets a call from Tim to tell him Alex is getting worse.
Outside the house, Gibbs talks to Ellie about her always running. She tells him she hasn’t had time to process things herself since everyone else is giving their opinions. Gibbs tells her to talk about it and Ellie turns it around on him after he mentions she always asked how he was after being shot. After asking if he has talked to anyone, he tells her he talks to his doctor and everyone has a breaking point. Ellie isn’t sure what to do. Gibbs brings up rule 28, which is “when you need help, ask.”
Tony, Tim, and Fornell discuss the FBI surveillance that is watching the warehouse for Turro. Tim tells Fornell that Turro is wanted in connection with 15 murders and he has been on radar since 2008. When the surveillance lets them know they have eyes on Turro, they move to make the arrest.
Turro and his men are in the warehouse when the FBI, Tony, and Tim raid the building. Turro moves to escape, but Fornell stops him. Tony then clocks him in the head.
Ellie goes to Leavenworth one more time to appeal to Richard. She tells him she knows that the two Iraquis were bombing U.S. troops and one of their victims was a friend of Doogan’s. She tells him not to let mistakes change who he is as a person and that he can help the future by saving Alex. Doogan agrees to be the donor and Gibbs and Ellie watch as he prepares for the procedure. Gibbs tells Ellie he knew she would be able to get through to him.
Alex wakes up in his hospital room to see Sean is there. The two hold hands as they reunite.
Tony and Fornell discuss the case. Brinkman and Turro are both being processed after their arrests. Fornell is on his way home to have dinner with his daughter while Tony had stayed behind to work on Tim’s reports since he had to go to the soup kitchen. After giving Fornell a bottle of wine, Fornell offers an invitation to Tony to join them for dinner, even though it will likely be burnt.
Gibbs is peeling potatoes while Barbara checks on the turkey. She tells him she knows she can trust him since Ellie is able to open up to him. She admits it is nervewracking for her knowing Ellie is so far away in a dangerous job, but is glad she has people there for her.
Ellie comes in for the serving platter, but Barbara offers to get it and leaves to go wait for the rest of the dinner crew. Ellie tells Gibbs she is ready to come back home and will leave Saturday. Gibbs asks if she has room in her car and tells her he only had a one way ticket since he planned to leave with her. Ellie agrees and wishes him a happy Thanksgiving.