MacGyver puts up Penny Parker for a few days while she's looking for a job as a singing telegram. But on her first day, she happens to witness two thugs torturing a man. Unfortunately, she can't find her way back, and when she does, MacGyver thinks this may be the start of something bigger as the victim is a Federal agent.

When MacGyver and Pete go skiing, a man switches poles with MacGyver, only moments before being gunned down and killed by his former friends. But the gunshot starts an avalanche, which covers MacGyver completely, leaving it up to Pete to convince the mountain rangers to stage a search and rescue before the next avalanche comes. As MacGyver finally is dug up, the gangsters are there, waiting for him, and whatever is hidden in that ski pole.

When MacGyver is sent to rescue an American pilot held in Central America for supposed espionage, his wargame-trained daughter tags along, but she didn't quite come prepared for the real thing. MacGyver must now rescue the pilot while keeping his daughter safe from the soldiers.

MacGyver is called to a meeting with a former British spy, who has learned of a group of terrorists that will use a new plastic explosive in a vengeful attack on the U.S. army. This explosive can be hidden anywhere. However, before the spy can give MacGyver all the details he is shot. MacGyver flees through a window and is picked up by a boat. The female who owns the boat soon learns that the man she has rescued doesn't have any memory.

While helping the People's Republic of China secure a priceless national treasure—The Ming Dragon—in a San Diego museum, MacGyver runs into a Lisa, a woman that he had loved and thought was long dead. MacGyver learns that Lisa has been alive all these years and needs his help escaping the KGB.

The KBG have Lisa in their grasp, and MacGyver must get The Ming Dragon for them to free Lisa. MacGyver enlists the help of his old buddy, Jack Dalton, to help him steal it.