Colter (Justin Hartley) heads to the sleepy little town of Springland on the way to a job as CBS’s Tracker episode three gets underway. After a brief check-in with Velma (Abby McEnany), Teddi (Robin Weigert), and their adorable Corgi about his next job locating a vintage Shelby Cobra, Colter pops into a restaurant for a quick bite.
There’s a bit of a ruckus in the restaurant when diners spot a woman leaving flyers on the cars in the parking lot. A waitress warns him not to get involved, but of course, Colter doesn’t listen. He steps in as a male diner confronts the woman, and the angry dude decides a verbal warning isn’t enough. He pulls out a knife and slits Colter’s front tire.
The man’s friends arrive to back him up, and he mistakenly believes that Colter will stop interfering. Colter doesn’t and instead attacks the guy with the knife, disarming and then subduing him. Unfortunately, Colter was stabbed in the process.
A doctor caring for his wound notes that he has an interesting collection of scars. While she’s stitching him up, he explains he’s a rewardist. (The doctor thinks that’s a made-up profession and who can blame her?)
The sleepy little town and the woman with the missing person flyer have grabbed his attention, and the doctor says the missing woman, Mia Stine, was a nomad who lived in her van. Her sister, Kira, is the one posting the flyers. The residents don’t appreciate seeing the flyers around town as it scares away tourists.
Kira (Anja Savcic) introduces herself as Colter leaves the doctor’s office, but before they can do anything more than exchange names, the town sheriff interrupts. He had Colter’s tire fixed and is happy to hear Colter doesn’t want to press charges. The sheriff says that Mia’s been missing for three months, and he believes she just moved on. They’re no longer investigating the case.
Colter and Kira chat over coffee in Colter’s RV, and Kira provides more details about her sister. They had a bad childhood, and Mia reacted by becoming a drifter and adrenaline junkie. Kira says that Mia never made it to her next destination, Moab, and she was last seen in Springland. There’s been no activity on her bank account or social media accounts for three months.
The man who attacked Colter is named Tom, and Kira thinks he knows something about Mia. Tom and his buddies work for the Winslows, a wealthy family trying to develop the area into a first-class resort.
Kira asks if he’ll take the job. It’s only a $5000 reward but Colter’s now already invested in seeing this through. He promises to do what he can, but this will be a tough case to solve since it’s been so long since she was last seen.
The odds aren’t in Mia’s favor. She’s most likely dead.
“I’ve made peace with that. If I can’t have Mia back, at least I’ll have the truth,” says Kira.
Colter visits Mia’s last known camping spot and notices a trail cam. He snaps a photo of the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number on the back and calls Bobby (Eric Graise) for help. After filling him in on Mia’s details and sending the photo, Bobby pulls up the flyer and gets her van’s license plate number.
Colter’s forced to abruptly hang up when Tom arrives with a shotgun, threatening to shoot him for trespassing on the Winslow property. Colter explains he’s just looking around for answers and that he’s hoping to collect the $5,000 reward.
Tom says it’s nothing personal with Mia; he dislikes all the van-life people who throw parties on the property and leave their trash behind. It’s his job to get them to leave Winslow land. He’s only angry at Kira because she keeps asking people if he has something to do with Mia’s disappearance. That sort of talk is making it back to his wife and kids, and it’s upsetting them.
Tom drops a huge hint when he reveals that Mia didn’t even sleep in her van half the time. She often wasn’t there when he’d knock and try and get her to move on.
That evening, Colter calls Teddi and Velma for help looking into Mia Stine. They both assumed he stayed in Springland instead of working on the $20000 reward for the missing car, so they’re not surprised when he asks for help on a different case.
Velma quickly finds photos online of a van-life group, and one includes Mia and a guy tagged as Gecko. She’s also able to determine the location of the photo.
The following day, Colter arrives at the location and there’s a group of climbers there ready to ascend. Gecko’s among them, but he’s already at the top of the cliff. He refuses to answer questions about Mia unless Colter climbs up, but then disconnects the rope so he can’t.
Colter returns to town and asks the pretty doctor if she recognizes the guy in Mia’s photo. It turns out Gecko’s real name is Matt Winslow, as in Winslow Resorts. The doctor connects the dots, correctly assuming Colter thinks Matt had something to do with Mia going missing. Apparently, Matt has been in trouble in the past, but the charges all got dropped. No one in town ever goes after the Winslows.
Colter visits the Winslow estate but instead of answering the door, Matt (Richard Harmon) tries to drive away. Colter stands in front of the car and Matt, wisely, stops instead of running him over. Matt claims he knows nothing about Mia but then reluctantly admits they were in a relationship. However, she took off even though they had discussed hitting the road together. She didn’t explain why and just left a note behind before taking off. Basically, Mia ghosted him.
Colter also learns that Mia wasn’t afraid to speak out and had a lot of opinions about this town. Matt loved that about her, but it made her unpopular with other people. He thinks she skipped town because she was tired of getting hassled.
Matt shows Colter her note that reads, “Sorry Matt, decided to go it alone.”
Matt’s mom and dad drive up as Colter’s still speaking with Matt, and they demand to know why he’s asking Matt about Mia. Mr. Winslow advises Colter to speak to the sheriff.
Back at Velma and Teddi’s place, Velma reveals she had her friend Lou from the pet shelter run a background check on Matt Winslow. It turns out Winslow Resorts has been involved in lots of lawsuits, but the complaints aren’t online. They decide now’s the perfect time to get their friend and lawyer Reenie Green involved since she has access to the courts.
Colter shows Kira Mia’s note and Kira determines it’s from her climbing journal. But the writing is not Mia’s. Just then, Bobby calls with news that he found Mia’s van. The IMEI from the game cam is attached to a network of cameras across the Winslows’ properties. The van went to one of the properties around the time of her disappearance but wasn’t ever captured exiting it.
Bobby’s super proud of himself for tapping into the matrix and retrieving the photos. Not everyone can do that.
It’s dark by the time Kira and Colter arrive at the van’s last known location. They walk a few yards and spot Mia’s van, covered with a tarp. They open the back door and Mia’s not inside. However, a gunshot rings out and the windshield cracks, forcing them to duck.
Colter determines the best course of action is to make a run for it. They spot a shed nearby and head there. Another shot rings out and Kira trips, causing Colter to stop and help her up. Colter and Kira make it the short distance from the shed to his truck without being shot at again.
They escape without being followed, and Kira becomes emotional. She never told her sister she loved her, and now, after seeing the van, she’s sure Mia’s dead. Colter understands that kind of regret and says although it doesn’t go away, it’s a reminder of what that person meant to you.
Colter takes the sheriff out to the van, but the van’s already been moved. The sheriff warns Colter that he’s lucky the Winslows didn’t kill him for trespassing. He suggests Colter hit the road right now before he gets into more trouble.
Colter calls Bobby in the middle of the night and asks him to look at the network of game cameras again. He needs to know who moved the van.
Colter returns to his RV and is shocked to see the door slightly open. He draws his gun and Reenie (Fiona Rene) appears in the doorway, reminding him he’s hid his key in the same place for three years. She was close by working on another case, and after a little good-natured flirting, Reenie reveals she quickly dug up two dozen lawsuits initiated by the Winslows. Apparently, the Winslows are lawsuit-happy. However, one lawsuit was brought against them by a landowner named Nathaniel who turned down their offer to buy his property. He believed they burned down his barn and sued them for harassment and property damages.
Three weeks after filing suit, he died. (His cause of death isn’t disclosed.) His lawyer’s witness list in the harassment case included Mia Stine. It’s all circumstantial, and Reenie knows they need to find additional evidence.
Fortunately, Bobby sends a text with exactly what they need to help prove the Winslows are involved.
Colter doesn’t want to wait until the morning to speak with Matt Winslow, and Reenie insists on going with him as his attorney. They find Matt nursing a beer in a bar and tell him they discovered Mia’s van on his family’s property. It’s clear by Matt’s face he had no idea.
Colter suggests that if Matt ever cared about Mia, he needs to tell the truth about her right now. It’s the only way to do right by her memory. Matt confesses he told Mia what his dad was doing – snatching up properties, intimidating landowners – because he wanted to prove he wasn’t like him. Mia asked him to stand up against his family, but he couldn’t.
Matt was present when Nathaniel’s barn was burned down and points the finger at Tony, a driver who works for his parents. He told Mia about it because he loved her, and she told Nathaniel what she learned. She was going to testify and wanted Matt to, also.
Matt still believes Mia bailed on him after being upset he wouldn’t stand up to his parents. He refuses to believe someone else wrote the note, so Colter shows him the video of Tony moving Mia’s van out of the woods.
Matt, Colter, and Reenie drive back to the Winslow house and are met outside by Mr. and Mrs. Winslow and Tony. Colter confronts Tony about Mia’s van and accuses him of being the one who shot at him and Kira. Tony orders them to leave and pulls his gun, but Colter’s able to easily disarm him of his weapon.
Colter and Reenie run through the clues, accusing Mr. Winslow of having Mia killed to stop her from ruining the family’s plans to build a resort. Mr. Winslow seems genuinely confused as to why Mia’s van is on their property and continues to insist they just made her move on.
Colter suddenly realizes Mr. Winslow isn’t lying. It’s been Mrs. Winslow this whole time. She gave the order to have Mia killed to keep Matt from running off with her and to stop her from testifying.
The following day, Colter checks in again with Teddi and Velma as Teddi’s working on a pottery wheel with the Corgi supervising from the comfort of a nearby chair. They wrap up their conversation quickly so that Colter can thank Reenie for her help before she leaves. They found Mia’s body, thanks to Reenie’s help, and now Colter owes her one.
Reenie reveals a guy named Russell called her and Colter says to just block the number. Reenie won’t do that without knowing who Russell is, and Colter confesses Russell’s his brother and they haven’t spoken in 20 years. Russell killed their father and then disappeared.
Before taking off, Colter collects the reward money from Kira and says his goodbyes. He thinks she should fix up Mia’s van, and Kira gives him a hug for all his help.
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- Tracker Season 1 Episode 4 “Mt Shasta” Recap
- Tracker Season 1 Episode 5 “St. Louis” Recap
- Tracker Season 1 Episode 6 “Lexington” Recap
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