
Naval Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs leads a group of colorful personalities in investigating crimes -- ranging from murder and espionage to terrorism -- that have evidence connected to Navy and Marine Corps personnel. The team includes MIT graduate Timothy McGee, Ellie Bishop, who specializes in international threat assessment, charismatic and unpredictable Nick Torres, and forensic psychologist Jack Sloane. Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard brings his vast experience in forensics into play to help solve cases.
The NCIS team must learn to work without Gibbs, who has retired; Ziva witnesses a political assassination and the FBI wants her.
NCIS temporarily reinstates Gibbs when an escaped convict threatens his friend's life.
While searching the abandoned and bloody car of a missing Navy lieutenant, the team learns she had been profiling men to find the perfect mate.
Gibbs and the team realize that a cadaver mistakenly tagged as a John Doe is actually that of a career felon with ties to a criminal mastermind.