Bartlet plays hardball to end the genocide in Kundu; after the entire speechwriting staff quits, Will is forced to rely on Elsie and some inexperienced interns to write tax policy remarks; the trip to California to help Sam's campaign gets off to a rocky start; Sam refuses to let Bartlet hold off the Democratic response to the Republican tax plan because it might hurt the campaign; Toby and Charlie get arrested coming to Andy's defense after a drunk accosts her; Bartlet fires Sam's campaign manager and replaces him with Toby.

When Bartlet learns that Zoey's kidnapping is the work of Qumari terrorists, he invokes the 25th amendment to diminish their leverage and eliminate any conflict of interest; since there's no Vice President, the power of the Presidency passes to Bartlet's chief political rival and the most powerful Republican in the country, the Speaker of the House, who immediately takes a very hard line; now that twins Huck and Molly have arrived, Toby wonders if he's capable of loving them enough.

When he realizes that his first choice for Vice President faces an uphill fight for nomination, Jed nominates a congressman that none of the staff can get excited about; Josh is less than thrilled with his new intern.

After the near-nuclear disaster at the power plant the polls show surprising, or maybe not so surprising, results for both candidates. The Vinick camp gears up for backlash while the Santos camp hopes for cause to celebrate. Meanwhile Bartlet is still trying to keep the situation in Central Asia under control. Relationships in the Santos campaign, the Vinick campaign, and the West Wing all undergo changes and Vinick and Bartlet attempt to deal with different versions of the cold.