A diverse group of recruits arrives at the FBI Quantico Base for training. They are the best, the brightest and the most vetted, so it seems impossible that one of them may be the mastermind behind the biggest attack on New York City since 9/11.

Alex is on the run and must outsmart Liam and his team to get into her apartment for anything that could help clear her name. Meanwhile, in a flashback to Quantico training, the NATS are tasked with finding a needle in a haystack while looking for potential threats to national security.

Alex receives information about her father and his FBI past. The NATS learn the art of profiling and focus on their classmates' strengths and weaknesses, ultimately challenging their confidence and camaraderie.

At Quantico, the recruits are tasked with performing a hostage rescue training exercise that shakes Alex, making her question her ability and whether she should quit Quantico. While in the future, Alex continues to search for clues, finding one that questions the innocence of one of her closest classmates. But is her clue really what she thinks? No one is who they seem.

The trainees leave campus for the first time while undergoing their first undercover assignment. With an evening full of unpredictable events, Alex and Ryan find themselves getting close while the recruits' skills are tested. In the future, Alex decides to tell her side of the story and sits down for her first public interview leaving everyone watching to wonder who is really telling the truth.

The NATs learn surveillance by putting it into practice with Miranda and her troubled son, Charlie. Shelby tries to keep Caleb at a distance, but Raina opens the door to a closer relationship with Simon. In the future, Alex is helped when she tries to hack into an FBI computer.