Cynthia had been an eco-terrorist. Following the Exxon Valdez oil spill, she had plotted with Susan Mailer and Jared Swanstrom to place a bomb on an oil tanker. Swanstrom built the bomb, and Mailer and Dern intended to plant the bomb when no one was aboard. Cynthia told Swanstrom that he'd made a mistake with the bomb and it had gone off too early. Cynthia wanted to run, but, wracked with guilt over causing Susan Mailer's death, Jared had a breakdown.