After losing the Democratic primary race to Paul Garcetti, candidate and former First Lady Elaine Hammond asks her husband, Bud, for a divorce. Two years later, Elaine, now going by her maiden name Barrish, is the Secretary of State under Garcetti. When an enterprising reporter, Susan Berg, tries to reveal that her son T.J. attempted suicide due to personal problems, Elaine allows Berg to follow her for a week to silence the story. During that time, three journalists are taken hostage in Iran, disrupting her son Douglas's engagement party. Elaine tells Bud she plans to send him to Oman to negotiate. At the end of the episode, she privately tells her bodyguard that she plans to once again run for president.