Following a series of devastating terrorist attacks that have killed 900 people in many different cities over eleven weeks, many Americans have become suspicious of Middle Easterners, and amid a feeling of being 'under siege', President Wayne Palmer has arranged for a prisoner exchange bringing Jack Bauer back from China, as part of a deal between him and Abu Fayed, who will provide Palmer with the location of Hamri Al-Assad if he is given Jack. Meanwhile, at CTU Los Angeles, Morris O'Brian and Milo Pressman are in the midst of a personality conflict, and the Wallace family attempts to help Ahmed Amar.