When the body of a missing NCIS facilities manager is found four months after disappearing on the day of the Navy Yard bombings, the NCIS team is assigned to investigate the strange case for one of their own. Meanwhile, the team is required to complete mandatory psych evaluations with a crisis counselor, and Gibbs is most concerned about Abby’s recurring nightmares since the bombing.
While on medical leave, Ducky orders the exhumation of a Navy commanders body from a case closed 12 years ago. As a result, Gibbs tasks Ducky with a slightly different role on the investigation. Meanwhile, the NCIS team investigates the recent death of a Marine. As both cases unfold, the team begins to question whether the two are somehow connected.
When a helicopter crew is adrift at sea and later discovered on shore, the NCIS team must determine the cause of the crash and locate the missing pilot. Meanwhile, Tony and McGee channel their inner “Maverick” and “Iceman,” a la “Top Gun,” and Ziva challenges them to a dare.
When a Navy Lieutenant who recently returned home from the Middle East is found dead from a brutal attack, the NCIS team questions the victim’s friend, Marine Captain Joe Wescott. Gibbs realizes the Captain is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, but knows his experience overseas may also provide a key link to the crime.
Gibbs continues to work with Captain Wescott while he retraces his steps in order to help the NCIS team track down a terrorist. With Thanksgiving on the horizon, Abby’s enthusiasm for the NCIS family dinner is building, and Tony’s curiosity is peaking when he learns Ziva is making special plans for the opera.
As the NCIS team investigates a teenage girl’s abduction, Ziva and Abby work closely with her young friend who witnessed the kidnapping. As the investigation unfolds, Gibbs seeks help from a past contact, Miranda Pennebaker, a well-connected woman with questionable morals. Meanwhile, Tony gets jealous when he learns Ziva is making plans with a mysterious man.
Gibbs teams up with FBI Agent Fornell on a joint NCIS/FBI investigation after Fornell becomes the target of a shooting, but they face an unexpected twist in the case when their mutual ex-wife, Diane Sterling, gets involved. Meanwhile, rumors run wild among the group after Diane stays overnight at McGee’s.
It’s Christmas time and Tony DiNozzo can’t decide if he’ll be naughty or nice when his dad, Anthony DiNozzo, Sr., comes to town for a visit. Meanwhile, the NCIS team is “following the money” in order to solve a murder investigation, and Abby is bursting with excitement over all the holiday festivities.
While the NCIS team investigates the link to a dead journalist and a Navy petty officer, Ziva is taken aback by the sudden emotional visit by her father, who she hasn't seen in more than two years. While Ziva questions the purpose of her father's visit as the Director of Mossad, her father insists he is in the U.S. strictly to see his daughter for Shabbat dinner.
In the aftermath of an event that strikes close to home, the NCIS team unites to seek answers and demand justice in order to protect their most vulnerable colleagues.
On leave from NCIS while still grieving the loss of his wife and his kids’ mother, Director Vance discovers unexpected personal information that causes him to question everything.
A media frenzy surrounding an unidentified criminal prompts Gibbs’ barber to question his son’s involvement and ask for Gibbs’ help in ruling out his son as a prime suspect.
A widowed Marine wife, whose husband was seemingly killed by a Taliban sniper, asks Gibbs' help to find out the truth. Meanwhile Vance is conducting interviews for a nanny.
The team investigates death of a navy medical officer aboard a ship that went through a storm. The prime suspect turns out to be a 4-star admiral, who is also McGee's estranged father.
Ziva continues to pursue revenge against Eli's killer, Ilan Bodnar, and Vance continues to endorse her actions despite orders from Homeland Security to rein them in.
In retaliation for the murders of Eli David and Jackie Vance, the NCIS team feverishly searches for Bodnar despite orders from Homeland Security to relinquish the case.
A Department of Defense investigator scrutinizes the NCIS team’s response to the Bodnar case involving the murder of Ziva’s father and Vance’s wife. Meanwhile, the team examines whether a Petty Officer is suffering from paranoia or if his claims of being followed are tied to a matter of national security.
The international manhunt for Eli David's killer turns into a federal witch hunt against Gibbs and the team, which questions their unconventional methods and threatens their future at the agency.