The 118 are called out to emergencies that involve people trapped in dangerous situations, including a homeless man in the back of a garbage truck, a mother and son duo in a water-filling elevator, and an extreme hoarder unable to leave his house. Athena attempts to date again, while Buck begins to doubt his relationship with Abby due to her mother. Hen deals with a custody battle with her ex.
As the episode opens, a homeless man is sleeping on a bus stop bench before an LAPD patrol car lights him up and tells him he has to sleep somewhere else, so the guy ends up having to sleep in a dumpster to get out of the rain, only to wake up when it is picked up by a garbage truck. He calls 911, and is quickly located by Athena and rescued by the 118, with the garbage man and the crowd that gathered to watch applauding the rescue. Meanwhile, Abby prepares to head to the dispatch center, but says goodbye to her mom first, who initially tries politely to ask her to stay, but when Abby can't as she has to work, her mom, due to Parkinson's or Alzheimer's, snaps and slaps her in anger, causing Abby to see she's getting worse, though the caretaker assures her she'll keep an eye on Abby's mom.
Elsewhere, Hen talks to Athena, and learns that Athena is dating, looking for a new husband after divorcing Michael.
The next call is to rescue a mother and her grown son after they are trapped in an elevator car and it is flooding with water from a ruptured pipe in the basement, due to the wear and tear on the building over the years. In the car, the mother and son, fearing they are going to drown, attempt to make amends with each other so they have no Parting-Words Regret, before they are rescued by the 118. After the rescue, the mother and son, glad to be alive, patch up whatever hostility they still had following their brush with death.
Athena is with another potential husband to replace Michael, but as they are having a romantic moment together, Athena and the guy end up handcuffing themselves to the bed, and can't reach the key in Athena's gun belt, thus, Athena is forced to call Abby to summon Hen to help them out, and Hen can't help but laugh at Athena's misfortune when she shows up to help, and Athena wants to minimize her humiliation, but Hen still takes a photo for her own keepsake before taking her leave, still laughing hilariously over Athena's plight.
The next day or so, Abby is on her way to where Buck is waiting to take her on a hot-air balloon ride, but before they can enjoy it, Abby gets word that her mom is in trouble as she's having another episode from Parkinson's/Alzheimer's and is forced to abandon their date to head home to comfort her mom, much to Buck's disappointment. Buck heads back to the station to voice his frustration to Captain Nash about having his days off to be with Abby ruined because of Abby's mother, and is considering getting back into the dating game because of it, but Nash suggests he get in there and help Abby with her mother, rather than bail just because of her other obligations to family.
The last call for the 118 is to the home of two elderly brothers who are extreme hoarders, having used all their hoarded stuff to make tunnels into and out of the house, along with booby traps as well. One of them is blind, and the other, while returning from a run, got trapped after setting one of the traps off. Chimney risks his own life to find the main trap and disarm it, a circular saw that could slice anyone it makes contact with clean in two, and once it is shut off, he finds the blind brother, who explains how they wanted to protect all their stuff from thieves after inheriting it from their late parents. As the 118 cleans out a safe path into the house, they soon find the other brother, but with a compound fracture of his leg bone, who refuses to leave without his brother, so they ensure both brothers are able to go to the hospital together.
Buck finally gets a chance to have a date with Abby, and asks how her mom is doing. Abby is worried about her because of her Parkinson's, but Buck tries to reassure her there's no need to break up with him because of the situation, and assures Abby to deal with this, and he'll be there for her when she needs it. Athena has dinner with the man she ran into trouble with earlier that required calling Hen to help them, but needs some time before she can get into another relationship after divorcing Michael. The man understands and agrees to her decision. Meanwhile, Hen goes to talk to her ex about Denny and her new wife Karen, and what it would take to get her ex to back off and leave Hen and her family alone, nearly being driven to tears as she tells her ex off. Her ex tries to plead with Hen to reconsider, but Hen makes it clear she will never let her ex near Denny.
As the episode ends, the homeless man leaves the shelter he was staying at to sleep in an alleyway again, the mother and son from the elevator find a new apartment for the son, the hoarder brothers re-secure their home and are relieved they are alright, but when Abby wakes up one morning, she finds her mom unresponsive, having passed away from a pulmonary embolism overnight, much to her devastation.
Tropes featured in the episode:
- From Bad to Worse: One emergency features a mother and son trapped in an elevator, which is also starting to flood.
- Wham Shot: The episode ends as Abby wakes up to find her mom unresponsive, realizing she passed away overnight while she was asleep.
