While in Washington, Dinah and Hattie get lost in a bad part of town on the way home from the market and stumble across a teenage girl named Allison sleeping on the streets. They bring Allison back to the trailer to learn that she is a runaway who has been separated from her brother Tommy through the bureaucracies of the local children's services agency. Russell and Claire contact an overworked social worker named Linda Paxton to help reunite Allison with her brother. Russell pays a visit to Tommy's last foster parent, Barbara Manning, who informs him that Tommy is dead. Russell and Claire break the new to Allison. Allison convinces Josh to take her to Barbara Manning to find out how Tommy died. Barbara tells Allison that her brother took his life. She tries to fill in some of the missing pieces but is finally at a loss to explain what led Tommy to take his life. Allison runs off and hitches a ride to the rail overpass where Tommy committed suicide.
