Brennan's new fascination with basketball and legendary coach Phil Jackson's thoughts on teamwork prompts her to gather five of her best "squinterns" to analyze remains that have never been identified.

When Brennan is shot while working late at the Jeffersonian lab, she is rushed to the hospital in critical condition. While at the hospital, she struggles with visions of her mother that defy her usual logic. Meanwhile all evidence suggests that Brennan's attacker may be linked to the Jeffersonian.

An undercover police officer, who was investigating a string of ATM robberies, turns up dead in a van with a bag of diamonds found inside his mutilated body. So the Jeffersonian team must figure out whether or not the ATM robbers are also murderers, or if the cop was crooked. Meanwhile, Brennan is the subject of a documentary commissioned to raise funds for the Jeffersonian, and she struggles to be likeable on camera.