KGB agent Elizabeth Jennings (Keri Russell) leaves a remote safe house to return home after recovering from her gunshot wound.
Meanwhile, her husband Philip Jennings (Matthew Rhys), posing as an American agent, is arranging a weapons deal with two Afghans (an elder and a young interpreter) in a Middle Eastern restaurant.
During the party, Philip gives his neighbor, FBI agent Stan Beeman, a refund for the trip he had arranged as a reconciliation attempt with his wife.
Posing as Air Force security, Philip and Emmett burst into a hotel room where Elizabeth and Leanne are having sex with Roy, a Lockheed employee who is involved in a Skunk Works project.
At the FBI counterintelligence office, Agent Frank Gaad (Richard Thomas) orders Stan to stop being so fixated on the Illegals couple that escaped.
Gaad asks Stan to trust his source, Nina (Annet Mahendru), who had claimed that the woman had died of her injuries and the man had been exfiltrated.
With the help of another FBI agent, Stan takes a bootlegged copy of The French Lieutenant's Woman for a date night with Nina.
At the amusement park, Emmett covertly contacts Philip and asks him to do a brush pass with an unnamed agent (John Carroll Lynch), explaining that he cannot do it himself because he might be recognized by the surveillance team following the man.
Philip is initially reluctant to involve their own children, but relents due to time pressure and carries out the task successfully.
The episode ends with Philip, disguised as FBI counterintelligence agent Clark, lying with Martha and talking about his job, stating that "it gets to you in ways you didn't think it would".
[1] Also, Eric Goldman of IGN rated the episode 8.5/10 stating; 'The Americans returned with a strong premiere that quickly raised the stakes.
'[2] Writing in The Atlantic, Spencer Kornhaber observed that the episode "raises the FX series' stakes by making its secret agents face a universal fear", namely about the safety of their own children.