As the CSI's continue their search for and discover the identity of the "Miniature Killer", Grissom and Sara's relationship gets exposed to the rest of the team as she goes missing during the investigation. The "Miniature Killer" is finally captured, but not before a member of CSI becomes the killer's final victim.

With time, the weather, and the desert against them, the CSI team must work together to find Sara before she dies from the miniature killer's attack.

The murder of a mother and her child seems to be connected to a murder case from 12 years earlier.