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President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) finds himself in another rock-and-a-hard-place crisis when an American spy submarine goes silent in North Korean waters. How, he wonders, can the U.S. mount a search and/or rescue mission without alerting the Korean authorities? Complicating matters is the presence of curmudgeonly, advice-dispensing Assistant Secretary of State Albie Duncan (Hal Holbrook). In other developments, Abbey's (Stockard Channing) previous malpractice suits may hurt her husband in the ongoing MS cover-up investigation. Toby (Richard Schiff) butts heads with an Appropriations Committee representative over the issue of funding avant-garde artists. And C.J. (Allison Janney) finally has something to be happy about vis-à-vis the re-election campaign.