Grissom and the team are in a desperate search to find Sara, who was recently kidnapped by the miniature killer: Natalie Kimble. Their only clue to Sara's whereabouts is a mysterious miniature that shows Sara trapped beneath a flipped red Mustang somewhere in the vast desert surrounding Las Vegas. Every member of the team serves an integral purpose in the hunt, with Catherine surveying the initial kidnapping scene, Greg scanning the desert in a helicopter and Nick and Warrick tackling Natalie's bizarre and terrifying apartment. Nick gets the luckiest break when he finds the location of the auto yard where Natalie purchased the Mustang. That clue and the digital maps Natalie had stored on her computer provide the team a radius with which to narrow their search.
But a storm is raging in the Las Vegas desert, and floodwaters begin to rise on Sara as she struggles to escape from beneath the car. She survived a treacherous ride out into nowhere with Natalie, and finally, she manages to free herself from the Mustang just in time. When morning breaks, the weather is hot, and Sara has nothing to eat or drink. She's mobile, but with a broken arm and the other injuries Natalie inflicted upon her, it's rough going. She walks continuously, doing anything she can to stay awake and survive.
All the CSIs fan out across the desert, and as the hours pass, Grissom becomes more and more frantic. Meanwhile, although she's in bad shape, Sara has her wits about her. She carries the rearview mirror of the Mustang along with her, and when she finally collapses in exhaustion, it remains visible. Soon, Nick spots the glint of the sun's reflection on the mirror, and he sprints to her side. A medevac helicopter is called to the scene, and with Grissom next to her, Sara is carried away to safety.