Tracker season 1, episode 3, “Springland” finds Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) working on another missing person case, this time near Cascade, Idaho. The first season of Tracker premiered on CBS in March 2024 and ended up being something of a surprise hit, thanks in part to its premiere airing right after Super Bowl LVIII. The series follows Colter Shaw, an ex-military operative who runs a tracking business where he searches for missing persons across the United States. Colter is aided by a team of experts who help him from remote locations.

Season 1 starts with Colter just beginning to get used to the team he’s assembling while also dealing with the fallout of his father’s death, which occurred before the show began. Colter’s personal troubles and his relationship with his team and brother, Russell (Jensen Ackles), make up the throughline between episodes while Colter investigates a different case in each episode. The previous episode saw Colter infiltrating a cult. Tracker season 1, episode 3, is a bit smaller in scope but no less tense and exciting as Colter travels to Idaho.

Colter Investigates A Missing Woman’s Disappearance With The Help Of Her Sister

A Woman Suddenly Disappears From Cascade, Idaho

On the way to a different job, Colter stops at a diner in Idaho where he sees a group of men accosting a woman for putting missing person fliers on their cars. Colter gets involved and earns a stab wound. At the clinic, he asks the doctor what everyone was fighting about, and she explains that the woman from the diner, Kira Stine (Anja Savcic), is looking for her missing sister, Mia. Mia has always been something of a nomad living in a van, and most of Cascade believes she just drifted elsewhere and doesn’t appreciate Kira making a scene.

The doctor warns him to “be careful“, which is the exact wrong thing to say to someone who makes his living off sniffing out trouble. When he leaves, he runs into Kira who’s waiting for him. While the local police pressure Colter to leave town, Kira urges him to stick around and help her find out what happened to Mia. The last Kira heard from Mia, she was planning on leaving town, and then she went dark. Kira suspects, with no evidence, that the local and powerful Winslow family is behind her disappearance.

Colter decides to help and brings in his team. While searching the locations of Mia’s last known whereabouts, Colter runs into Tom (Bradley Stryker), the man with the knife from before. Tom explains he works for the Winslows and is charged with keeping van-life people like Mia off the family’s large property. He told Mia to leave but never touched her. Colter doesn’t know what to believe, but his hacker assistant, Bobby Exley, played by the excellent Eric Graise, finds a photo online of Mia and a man named Gecko (Richard Harmon). With his first major clue, Colton digs deeper.

A Photo Of Mia And A Mysterious Man Leads To An Influential Family

Kira And Colter Find Mia’s Van On The Winslow’s Property

The doctor who patched up Colter reveals that “Gecko” is actually Matt Winslow, an amateur troublemaker who doesn’t have a record because the police are afraid of his family. Colter goes to the Winslow home to get some answers and manages to find out that Matt was in a relationship with Mia. He says she left him without warning and disappeared, only leaving him a goodbye note, though he says she never liked his family or their methods of buying up land for private enterprise. Before he can say more, his parents slam the door.

Colter takes the note to Kira, who says that it isn’t Mia’s handwriting. Right as they realize the implications, Bob calls again and tells Colter he found Mia’s van on the Winslow property. Kira and Colter go to where the van is and just as they’re about to open it, gunfire erupts around them, forcing them to flee. When Colter returns with the sheriff, the van is gone.

Colter Solves The Case With Some Help From Reenie Greene

Colter Confronts The Winslow Family

​​​​​​Fortunately, backup finally arrives in the form of Reenie Greene (Fiona Rene), Colter’s formidable attorney who assists on his cases and is one of the few characters in Tracker who works in-person with Colter, though it’s still a rather rare occurrence. Reenie begins digging into the Winslows and uncovers numerous lawsuits they’ve been involved with over the years. In one case, a man was going to sue the Winslows after they burned down his barn. After he died, his lawyer planned to use Mia to testify on his behalf.

Matt loved Mia and hoped to leave town with her, but then she disappeared.

When Reenie and Colter bring this to Matt, he reveals that Mia confronted him about his family’s history and the strong-arming of the man she was supporting. Matt loved Mia and hoped to leave town with her, but then she disappeared. Colter and Reenie go to the Winslows’ again and while they bluff at first, it finally comes out that Matt’s mother killed Mia, terrified that Matt would run off with her and destroy the family business. She had worked alone, and the police find Mia’s body in another one of the Winslow’s properties.

Colter And Reenie Part Ways And Reenie Receives A Call

Kira Gets An Idea About What To Do With Mia’s Van

The end of Tracker season 1, episode 3, sees Colter and his team celebrating another successful case solved. However, Reenie and Colter have a bit of an awkward goodbye as they leave, suggesting there may be something more for them in the rest of Tracker season 1. Before she leaves, Reenie tells Colter that his brother, Russell, called her. Colter says he’ll explain another time. After Kira pays Colter, he suggests she fix up her van, and maybe try it out herself, in honor of Mia.

✕Remove Ads