The Bebop returns to Ganymede for a bounty hunt, which turns out to be a big deal for Jet since he used to be an ISSP detective there before everything fell apart. While tracking down a criminal named Rhint, Jet runs into Alisa—the woman who left him years ago and pretty much destroyed him. She's now dating Rhint, and Jet ends up caught between the bounty and his unresolved feelings. Through flashbacks we see younger Jet as an idealistic cop who lost his arm and his girlfriend around the same time. Meanwhile, Spike and Ed hang back and let Jet deal with his messy past.
Things come to a head when Jet confronts both Rhint and Alisa. Turns out she didn't leave because she stopped loving him—she felt trapped by how protective he was, like being in a cage. After Rhint gets caught, Jet visits an old watchmaker who gives him the episode's core wisdom: some people are like clocks wound too tight, and you can't fix them without breaking something. Jet realizes he can't save Alisa and finally lets her go, heading back to the Bebop still carrying the weight but at least understanding why it all fell apart.