Day 1: "This groundbreaking thriller is a roller-coaster ride that unfolds in real time. From midnight to midnight -- covering a 24-hour day over the course of a season -- each episode will have its own resolution, but the clock will never stop ticking. The first 24 episodes take place on Presidential primary day in Los Angeles, where Jack Bauer and his elite team of CIA agents uncover a plot to assassinate Presidential nominee David Palmer. With only 24 hours to identify the killer and save Palmer's life, Jack must also deal with his strained marriage and the sudden disappearance of his troubled teenage daughter. The clock is ticking..."
Day 2: "Season two picks up approximately one year after the conclusion of the first season, and finds Jack Bauer, who headed the government's Counter Terrorist Unit, and his daughter, Kim, dealing with the trauma of losing their wife/mother. Just as their lives are beginning to return to normal, now-President David Palmer reaches out to Jack, who is called upon to stop another terrorist plot with global implications." (FOX press releases)
Day 3: Season three starts three years after the events of the last season. A Mexican drug lord sits in jail, put there by Jack. His brother arranges to blackmail the US Government with the threat he will release a bio-weapon that will kill millions if they don't release him. Palmer seeks re-election to a second term, with a dodgy chief of staff, and a girlfriend who may not be telling him everything he needs to know. Will Jack survive this day? Or will it be his last...
Day 4 : Eighteen months after the conclusion of Season 3, CTU has a new leader, Erin Driscoll, a steely government agent who made firing Jack one of her first priorities. After the explosion of a commuter train, Jack, who is now working for Secretary of Defense James Heller and also is romantically involved with Heller's married daughter, Audrey Raines, suddenly finds himself heading back to CTU for a meeting with Driscoll. Jack believes that the train explosion is a prelude for bigger things to come and as this day unfolds, he finds that his instincts are right
Day 5: A further eighteen months after the dramatic conclusion to season four, Jack Bauer is now working as a day-to-day laborer at an oil refinery under the alias "Frank Flynn" in Mojave, California. Jack is renting a room north of Los Angeles from Diane Huxley, a single mother, and her 15-year-old son Derek.
Today is supposed to be a monumental day in the Logan presidency. He is scheduled to sign an anti-terrorism alliance treaty with Russian President Yuri Suvarov at his retreat in Hidden Valley, California. This is believed to be the motive behind most of the day's events, as the Russian terrorists, led by Vladimir Bierko, that carry out the day's attacks, believe the treaty will increase the suffering of their people.
Later, it is found out that the day's events are part of a massive government conspiracy. President Charles Logan, Chief of Staff Walt Cummings, former CTU head Christopher Henderson, and a group of mysterious men who monitor and influence the actions of Logan, led by a man identified only as Graem, are all involved. Their initial plan was to release nerve gas on Russian terrorists and to use that as an excuse to invoke the military terms of the treaty that was signed earlier that day, allowing Logan to secure his oil interests in Central Asia. Former President David Palmer finds out and tries to stop them, so he is killed and Jack Bauer is framed for the crime, thus setting up the day's chain of events.
Day 6: Set 20 months after season five and over the last 11 weeks before Day 6, the United States has been targeted coast-to-coast in a series of suicide bombings including a train bombing in Atlanta, casino bombing in Las Vegas, park bombing in Phoenix, hospital bombing in Detroit, a mall bombing in Baltimore, office building bombing in San Jose, hotel bombing in Chicago, a taxi bombing in New York City, bus bombing in Los Angeles, a bombing at the airport in St Louis and a street bomb in San Antonio, Milwaukee, and Portland, Oregon. President Wayne Palmer has negotiated the release of Jack Bauer from a Chinese prison. A man by the name of Hamri Al-Assad is believed to be behind the attacks. A man named Abu Fayed agrees to give the U.S. the location of Assad in exchange for $25 million and Jack Bauer. Jack is turned over, but Fayed tells Jack that he is behind the attacks, not Assad. In fact, Assad is trying to stop them. Jack escapes, and tries to warn the President before Assad is killed, but he refuses to abort the air attack. Jack quickly rescues Assad shortly before the attack.
Assad and Jack then work together, stopping a suicide bombing in L.A., and tracking a suspect that they thought would lead them to Fayed, but he didn't. Instead, he leads them to a computer that informed CTU and Jack that Fayed is planning to detonate nuclear weapons in the U.S. Curtis Manning appears and prepares to take Assad back to CTU. Jack then finds out that Curtis wants revenge against Assad and is forced to shoot and kill Curtis to save Assad. Distraught at being forced to kill his friend, Jack collapses and vomits. He calls Bill Buchanan at CTU and quits.
The terrorists detonate a nuclear bomb in Valencia, California. Jack realizes that he wants to save lives and gets back on the job that would eventually lead him to his brother, Graem Bauer, and his father, Phillip Bauer. Jack must now figure out the plot behind this day's incredible events if he wants to stop four more nuclear bombs from going off.
