After the future abducted a select few 4400 children, including Maia, and re-seeded them back into the timeline, they erased the children from the memories of anyone who knew them.
But despite the future's best efforts, Tom and Diana eventually began to remember Maia and the other children being abducted. With NTAC's help, Tom and Diana were able to locate, in the pages of history, where and when some of the children were sent. In all cases, each child helped to bring forth some advancement for humanity.

But none of this information brought Tom and Diana any closer to knowing how to get the children back. Diana, desperate to see her daughter, enters an alternate reality, through Alana's ability, where she can spend time with Maia.

However, knowing she will never see the real Maia again, Diana decides to stay in the alternate reality permanently. But the mental strain of staying there for an extended period of time would result in certain death in a matter of weeks.

In order to save Diana and get back the children, Tom decides to play the ultimate game of chicken with the future. Knowing he's a part of the future's plan, Tom attempts suicide with the hope that the future will intervene and grant him an audience. It works.

After much debate, the future brokers a deal with Tom. In exchange for returning the children, Tom must perform a task for them. Tom agrees. It is only after the children are returned and Diana is reunited with Maia that Tom finds an envelope left for him by the future revealing his task. It contains a syringe filled with an unkown substance and a note that reads "Kill Isabelle".

At The 4400 Center, Richard discovers that Shawn and Isabelle have been engaged in a physical relationship. But this conflict is forced to the back burner when the Nova Group contacts The Center and offers to remove the bounty on Shawn's head in exchange for a meeting with Richard.

At Shawn and Matthew's urging, Richard eventually decides not to meet with them. In response, the Nova Group finally exacts their revenge on Shawn -- one of their agents, Armand, uses his ability to afflict Shawn with a mental illness.