As the opening recap ends with Angela meeting with Phillip outside his palatial estate, it seamlessly flows into the beginning of the episode. Angela tearfully wants to play a role in retribution against the Whiterose for the E-Corp bombings. Phillip tells her to simply learn how to live with it. Angela insists that the Whiterose's project is real and that she's seen it, and she knows how to take it from her. She wants to expose the plot, but Phillip yells at her to shut up. She declares that she'll do it herself, but when she moves to walk towards the house, something catches her eyes as a door opens and closes. Phillip explains that all he wants is to protect her from the Whiterose, imploring with her to beg for forgiveness. Angela tells him to remove his emotions from his panicked state. She returns to the bench, resolute that she will not run. Phillip walks back to the house, removing a hidden microphone from his shirt, as two Dark Army soldiers arrive and shoot Angela in the back of the head.
Inside, Phillip tosses a vase at the floor. He receives a call from the Whiterose, who tells him that Angela made her choice. Phillip blames the Whiterose for recruiting her. The Whiterose accepts his lashing out.
On her island, the Whiterose stares out at the ocean and hands the phone to her assistant Wang Shu. Wang informs her that Elliot's shipment hack will deliver the project by the end of the year, 2 months time. Wang says that Elliot cannot be trusted. The Whiterose says that once the project is delivered, Elliot can be terminated. Wang says that he must be kept on a short leash and trained to not bite his master. The Whiterose gives the order to send him a reminder of the consequences.
December 21st. It's Christmas time in NYC. At a holiday party at the office of Lomax & Looney Law, Freddy Lomax is a sexist jerk to his assistant who gives him a package. The letter disturbs him enough to send him to his office. On his TV, he plays a CD of his sexual video chat with an underage girl. The phone rings from inside the package as Freddy answers Mr. Robot's call. He directs him to open his email. Freddy tries to barter for silence, but Mr. Robot does not cares for the money. Freddy is forced to copy his email inbox onto a USB drive before leaving his electronics behind and going to the Grand Central Station. Mr. Robot watches from outside this building.
Freddy gets into a cab. The news on TV covers the economic boom from the 5/9 reversal. The praise falls on E-Corp, E-Coin and CTO Tyrell Wellick.
Inside the Grand Central Station, Freddy is guided by the all seeing eye of Mr. Robot to buy a ticket from the furthest kiosk as the Dark Army operatives arrive on scene. The drug addled lawyer Freddy is anxious, but Mr. Robot coaches him on how to lose the tail: by throwing a wad of money into a busker's case so that the Dark Army will frantically search it for a moment. Freddy is directed to a train car where Elliot waits on his laptop.
Freddy pulls out a gun on Elliot, but Elliot has the video ready to be sent to the FBI and Freddy's family. Elliot looks through Freddy's emails and documents. He tracks the money Freddy funnels for Zhi Zhang (the Whiterose) to Cyprus National Bank. Elliot pushes him for more information, though he claims to be a low level paper pusher. Freddy gives the name John Garcin. He says that the address is at his office. Elliot notices that the Dark Army soldiers are coming from the train, realizing that Freddy's ID tag has the Bluetooth enabled. Elliot has them split up to rendezvous outside while leaving the tag in the car. Over the phone, Freddy is fearful of the Dark Army. Hearing Elliot's silence that he can't protect him, Freddy kills himself with his gun on the street corner, as Elliot joins the crowd around the body.
December 22nd. The next day, Tyrell walks into E-Corp as his assistant Elizabeth informs him of his busy day of meetings and appearances. In his office, he asks to postpone anything up until tomorrow. He can't. He asks for a minute. Elizabeth thanks him for his heroism. Alone, Tyrell stares ahead blankly.
At her mom's house, Dominique looks like a wreck struggling to stay awake in the middle of the day. She is suspicious of a car parked in the driveway. Peeking out of her door, she sees a strange man ascending the stairs. She gets her gun and confronts him. Her mom Trudy finds them and explains that he's just renovating the bathroom, as she told her last week. Dominique insists that she vet anyone her mom hired. Trudy laughs it off and goes to go the mall walking with Janice, someone she met at church and wants to set up with Dominique. Trudy tells her that Janice is coming over for dinner.
In the now abandoned Allsafe office, Mr. Robot searches through John Garcin's boring social media while Elliot adds his name to a conspiracy web. Elliot wants to go to his address, believing him to be a liaison to Cyprus National Bank, while Mr. Robot wants to do more research to break him as they always do. Elliot won't wait another two weeks, as the Whiterose will kill them once her project is delivered. Elliot ignores a call from Darlene. Mr. Robot takes note of Elliot's cold demeanor. He tells Elliot to put aside his own anger. Elliot explains that if they rob the bank, they will stop the Whiterose. Mr. Robot claims what they once started to save the world is now clouded about his feelings for Angela. Elliot points it out that society has forgotten about 5/9 and the bombings for Christmas commercialism and that if they don't do something, the Whiterose will get away with it. Elliot is done with his feelings, his only focus is the Whiterose. Mr. Robot reads a text from Darlene, telling Elliot about Angela.
At his apartment, Elliot lets in Darlene, in a frantic mood. She asks about Flipper. Elliot gave him to his landlord for the week. Darlene wonders on what her brother is busy with. She goes on to say that she thinks she saw Angela. Elliot is dismissive. Mr. Robot tells her that Angela is gone and asks if Darlene is on drugs. Darlene dodges the question. She recounts about seeing Angela at a shelter but losing her in the crowd. Her body was never found after all. Darlene insists that she was wearing her same crazy outfit from before she was taken. Elliot blames the coke. Darlene fights with him for shutting down. Elliot gets into her face, declaring that Angela is dead and it's not their fault. Darlene leaves. Mr. Robot asks why on he didn't just show Darlene the photo the Whiterose sent of Angela's body. We see a quick flash of the image. Elliot didn't want to break her heart. He wants to get back to work.
Mr. Robot begins narrating to the audience as he watches Elliot gather the documents. He explains that Elliot hasn't been talking much since Angela's death. Distracting himself from the pain, like everyone does during the holidays. Mr. Robot rants about Christmas fake ness while they commute. He admits to bringing in the audience not because he likes them, but because Elliot does.
They arrive at an apartment owned by E-Corp. Mr. Robot is cautious about it, but Elliot heads in anyway. Inside, the man behind the counter pours a bowl of cereal while a nearby man talks loudly on FaceTime in Samoan. Elliot tells the doorman that he has a deliver for John Garcin. The doorman lets them through. Upstairs, they find the apartment door open. Inside, they close the door and search all over the place, though Mr. Robot just wants to takeover the WiFi. The room is empty, covered in dust and populated by store display items. They realize that the door is locked and the phone signal is jammed. Elliot finds a book on the shelf, "No Exit" by Jean-Paul Sartre. He concludes that John Garcin is a name taken from the book and that they were set up by Freddy. It's a honeypot.
The doorman plays "Don't Worry Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin on an old generation iPod while two men drag Elliot away.
At the DiPierro house, Trudy, Dominique, and Janice sit around the dinner table. Trudy tells a story about an attractive nun at their church, trying to get Janice to comment on the nun. Trudy calls it a night and asks Dominique to help Janice bring the leftovers at home. Outside, Janice explains that the stuffed animal head is in her car because she's a taxidermist. Dominique tries to make small talk. She apologizes about her mom setting them up. They talk about Dominique's recent stress, as told by Trudy to Janice. Dominique says goodnight. Janice tells her to get some sleep for her Santiago interview in the morning. Dominique is alarmed. Janice says that Dominique has put it off for weeks and it looks suspicious. She says unless that Dominique cleans up Santiago's mess, she will kill her mother. Dominique threatens Janice from touching her mom. Janice laughs it off, as killing her won't stop the others. Dominique notices the vans down the street.
Darlene does a line of coke at a party at Angela's apartment. The other people comment on the state of the disheveled decor: the etched out photos. Darlene takes a pill from a friend before she notices a bunch of people in the bedroom. Some girls are digging through Angela's closet, tossing aside ballet shoes. Darlene yells at them and tells everyone else to leave. She then lays on the bed and cries as she misses Angela.
In his apartment, Elliot is being held in a chair by two men while a third prepares a heroin needle. Elliot threatens that if the Whiterose is listening, he can expose her shipment. He pleads with his captors. Invoking Cyprus National Bank gets the third man to pause a moment. Still, the third man approaches Elliot. "Goodbye friend", he says, injecting the drug into Elliot's arm. Elliot collapses and tries to reach the phone. He sees his parents and his younger self talking about his impending death, that they will all go away. The events of the past year flash before his eyes before he closes them. The closing credits briefly begin before the episode resumes. Someone injects something up Elliot's nose and he awakens. It's the three men who kidnapped him. Phillip Price walks in: "Welcome back, Mr. Alderson".