When seven strangers are abducted and wake up in an abandoned town, confusion sets in. They soon discover cameras are watching their every move and whoever took them has taken extreme measures to keep them from leaving. The mystery thickens after dinner at a mysterious Chinese restaurant, where Janet Cooper's fortune reads, "Kill your neighbor and you'll go free."

While the group attempts to understand why they were kidnapped, Moira painfully removes the implant device that has been embedded in each person's thigh. Elsewhere, trying to escape back to their normal lives, Joe and McNair carefully test the limits of the invisible fence. Meanwhile, back in San Francisco, curious reporter Renbe's search for information on missing mom Janet hits a dead end.

After a week of escape attempts end in failure, tension begins to grow within the group. When a helicopter appears above the hostages, they are hopeful that help has arrived, but the craft only hovers long enough to drop a mysterious box. Meanwhile, San Francisco reporter Renbe puts himself back on the case of Janet's disappearance, despite warnings to stop his investigation.

The Night Manager informs the group that one of them will be allowed to check out. Meanwhile, Joe has a secret meeting with someone in the town, and Tori receives a visit of her own.

After discovering that Tori is missing, the group's search for her turns up a mysterious newcomer with the name "Erika" tattooed on her arm. Erika reacts violently to her new surroundings and physically attacks Joe, Janet, Blackham, and Moira. Meanwhile, a suspicious Renbe believes he's found a link between Tori's fate and Janet's disappearance.

When Joe suddenly falls violently ill, the group becomes alarmed. Meanwhile Erika discovers an antidote, but refuses to give it to Joe unless he comes clean about his secret. Elsewhere, reporter Renbe and Kat attend Tori's funeral in Rome and discover that her father, the U.S. ambassador to Italy, is also investigating her disappearance.

When Joe confesses everything he knows about the kidnappers and their organization to Janet, he puts himself in a vulnerable position with all involved. Angry and mistrustful of Joe's involvement in "the program," Blackham and Erika devise a plan to use him as a possible way to escape. Meanwhile, Kat, Renbe and Stefano believe that Joe is the key to finding both Tori and Janet.

When Joe wakes up strapped to a table, he is told he must be "reeducated" in order to return to the program, or he will die. He then endures a dizzying array of dreams, hallucinations and flashbacks designed to steer him back to the program and away from Janet. Back in town, both Blackham and McNair are forced to come to with their troubled pasts. Elsewhere, continuing their journey in South America, Kat and Renbe try to track down the only person who has ever escaped "the program."