Three new recruits have joined Rescue, but only two can stay, a situation that creates some tension between the three as they compete for the two open spots. Mickey faces a new set of domestic challenges when his sons move in with him.

Mickey tries to get a stubborn old fisherman to stop fishing in a dangerous location; later, Mickey sees a physchiatrist after he suffers a panic attack during a rescue. At school, Tracey helps Luke stands up to the school bullies.

Several members of the squad, especially Angel, are having trouble with new Rescue member Joe whose risk taking and care-free attitude has placed his career in jeopardy. Inspector Adams says he will have to work on his attitude if he wants to stay part of the squad. Bill contemplates retirement after the death of a close friend. Joe's involvement with troubled rescue subject gives him his greatest challenge when she becomes suicidal.

A plane with a father and son crashes in the mountains. A search party is organised but the search is further complicated when Angel becomes lost as well.

There has been an explosion on a ship and several men are trapped. The job of rescuing the injured crewmen is made more difficult when the squad finds evidence of a bomb and find themselves hampered by the threat of additional explosions and a man who is not what he seems.

A brother and sister are climbing a dangerous rock face. When the brother falls, the sister takes on all his weight. Georgia and a local expert climber work to rescue them. Joe and Mickey are diverted to another rescue at the site of a leadership course for corporate workers. Sharyn's coworkers help her celebrate her 21st birthday.

Not long after the Holliman family has won three million dollars in the lottery, their daughter is kidnapped and held for ransom prompting Sydney's entire police service to be mobilised to search for a kidnapped child. Georgia is faced with an important decision.

After a heroic rescue from the top of Centrepoint Tower, Angel and Tracey arrive at the scene of a car accident to find his brother Con injured and his other brother Paulie dead. The driver of the other car is drunk and cops a beating from Angel. When Internal Affairs gets involved, Tracey and Angel are questioned about the incident but when the man dies in hospital, Angel is arrested and charged with manslaughter.

Several members of the squad are rethinking their future. Will they stay or leave Rescue? How will it all end?

Mickey has the dirty task of rescuing a man from a chimney. Angel is given a sendoff after he is dismissed from the Police Service. The squad races an oncoming storm in their attempt to rescue two children lost in a vast system of stormwater tunnels. Georgia and Alex accept the reality of their relationship. Georgia is farwelled as she transfers out of Rescue to join a youth crime task force. Surrounded by change, Mickey reconsiders his own future at Rescue and resigns.