The remains of an escaped convict are found in a residential sewer, but an examination of the sewer pipes indicates that the murder occurred within prison walls. Brennan insists on solving the crime despite Booth's pleas for her not to overexert herself and the expectant couple experiences a very untraditional arrival of their baby daughter.

With the help of Special Agent Genny Shaw, the Jeffersonian team identifies the remains of a discount shopper and “extreme couponer” who was dragged along the road by an 18-wheeler. Meanwhile, Brennan is adjusting to her first day back at work after giving birth, and Cam disapproves of her daughter’s romance with intern Finn Abernathy.

When a corpse is found at a landfill, dyed in a blue substance, intern Arastoo Vaziri discovers a method that helps eliminate postmortem damages to the corpse, which leads the team back to a hair salon where the victim worked. Meanwhile Bones is feeling uncomfortable in her post-baby body, so Booth decides to do something special to boost her self-confidence.

The corpse of a truck company employee is found in the middle of the woods. After the victim’s son is questioned, Booth and Brennan visit his karate class in search of a motive. Back at the lab, Hodgins is going overboard purchasing lab equipment. Then, Booth’s son Parker returns from England and Brennan is apprehensive about how he’ll react to his new baby sister.

When a corpse is found in the middle of the woods, the team links the victim to two families that have been feuding for almost a century. Brennan and Booth interrogate a family member with a shocking confession that leads them to a motive for the victim’s murder. Meanwhile, Brennan has a difficult time accepting her father’s offer to babysit their infant daughter because of his unpredictable presence in her own childhood.

A film adaptation of Brennan's latest book takes her and Booth to Los Angeles for the production, where Brennan criticizes the acting and disregard for science, but the trip takes a strange turn when a prop cadaver happens to be a real murder victim.