Sheriff Valenti is surprised to see an old acquaintance sitting in his office chair: Everett Hubble. Hubble comments on Valenti's acceptance of his father's attitudes about UFOs. Valenti tells Hubble he is not wanted in town.

Larry aggressively orders a milk shake called an "Alien Encounter", and as Liz leaves to get their drinks, asks her, "Why don't you tell me what really happened in September?"

Milton the UFOlogist gives Max just the opportunity.

Milton is excited about the turn-out at the center's tenth convention, telling his faithful (alien) employee, "We're not just a joke anymore." When Max offers to help out more, the happy boss promises him more work than he could imagine.

Elsewhere at the convention, Maria unfurls an "Alien Takedown" banner. Maria's mom overhears just enough of Michael's mockery to point out this is how she keeps her family off the streets..

After this awkward first impression, Maria introduces Michael to her mother.

Milton introduces Max to Everett Hubble, a fellow Milton describes as having actually made direct contact with an alien. When Max asks what the alien looked like, Hubble says they look human.

Sheriff Valenti searches a box of his father's effects. A newspaper clipping shows the elder Valenti along with the headline, "Roswell Sheriff Taken In For Questioning For the Silo Murder."

At the convention, Max mans the information booth. As Liz enters the room, Michael shares his secret with Max: think about mud.

Liz pretends to be on cafe business, but she tells Max that the witnesses from the shooting are back in Roswell. Max can barely listen, as Liz fades into slow motion before his eyes.

He gasps, "Mud," and explains to Liz that he wants mud pies at the convention. She looks confused as he exits, citing how busy he is.

Valenti and Hubble meet up outside the convention. Valenti wants to know why Hubble is back in Roswell.

Hubble explains that he has been following recent news, including the September shooting. He claims to have information which about what happened to Valenti's father.

Across the street, Max watches the men talking.

As the convention's second day begins, Milton prepares Frakes to inaugurate the center's collection of celebrity handprints. When he sets his hands into the sidewalk cement, Frakes sinks to his shoulders.

At the Crashdown, Jennifer accepts an eighth refill of coffee from Liz and bursts into tears. Liz lends a friendly ear.

Michael wants Max to introduce him to the people who really know things about UFOs. Max tells him the convention is nothing but a freak show, but Michael recognizes Larry and asks about Hubble.

Max investigates Hubble on the center's computer, finding references to the 1972 Silo murder outside of Roswell. A vagrant was killed, leading to the resignation of Sheriff Valenti Sr.

At the rest home, James Valenti Sr. complains to his son about the cold. The sheriff presses his father to focus and remember the past, and the senior Valenti says Hubble's problem was that he couldn't let go of his wife and child.

The sheriff knows of no such Hubble relations. His father continues to complain about the cold, saying that someone is trying to kill him.

Jennifer and Liz chat at the counter of the Crashdown Cafe. She tells Liz that Larry has been obsessed with UFOs since they witnessed the shooting in Roswell, putting off their marriage while he roams the West looking for evidence.

Frakes moderates a panel at the UFO convention, inviting the audience to share their encounter stories. After gushing about Frakes, Larry begins to tell the crowd about the shooting.

Michael brushes against Larry, causing him to begin scratching himself. The itching and his larger-than-life storytelling makes him sound unbelievable, and he is mocked by Frakes and a panelist.

When Larry becomes upset, Frakes calls for security to remove him. Max and Milton haul him away just as Larry identifies Max as an alien.

Later, as Larry applies itch cream, Hubble approaches him. Hubble wants to hear all about the shadowy Max Evans.

On the third day of the convention, Frakes poses for pictures with countless tourists. He looks for relief from other celebrity guests, only to learn that the others have cancelled.

Maria's mom talks impatiently on the phone with Ernie, one of her wrestlers. Yes, she apparently manages wrestlers. Ernie has hurt himself and cannot make the show, a financially ruinous situation for Mrs. De Luca.

Michael overhears this conversation.

Back at Valenti's office, Hubble shows the sheriff pictures from various hand print crimes. Valenti wants to know where these pictures are from, but Hubble remains vague, citing "connections."

Hubble tells Valenti that his father pulled the trigger on the wrong man, and that the alien is a killer. Hubble also wants to know more about Max.

"Just in the neighborhood" and other nice lies

Alex stops in at Isabel's house, claiming to be "just in the neighborhood." Isabel points out that he has been around for the last twenty minutes.

Alex has brought her a book of star charts and invites her to go watch the skies again. Isabel becomes flustered, telling him that they have been over this and she can't get involved with him.

Alex insists that it will be just friends going out to watch stars, but Isabel tells him, "This has to stop." She claims he's suffocating her. Upset, Alex leaves.

Alex enters the Crashdown Cafe, where Maria and her mother drown their sorrows in milk shakes. After the De Lucas recognize Alex as a fellow lost soul, Alex asks them and Liz if all men are obsessive.

The group promptly recounts the horrors of men. According to them -- and Jen, who chimes in -- obsession is a kind of avoidance. Men can't commit, so they hide behind their obsessions.

When Alex asks what happens when a man is obsessed by a women, the group laughs at him. They're interrupted by Milton, who rushes in to ask why Mrs. De Luca is not at the wrestling match.

She returns to the convention to find a masked wrestler lying flat on his back in the ring. Concerned, she unmasks the wrestler to find Michael, She is ecstatic to learn he came to her rescue.

In a private moment, Michael tells Maria he did it for "the easy money." She moves in to kiss him, but as their lips meet, he cries out, "Mud."

In his office, Sheriff Valenti notices a car license plate in Hubble's pictures and runs it through the computer. The registration is in the name of Sheila Hubble.

Max begs Hubble to speak at the convention's final panel. Hubble relents, but he needs help getting his slides from his home. Max offers to drive him.

At the home, Valenti shows his father the clippings from 1972 and describes what he thinks happened:

Valenti believes his father saw a hand print on Sheila Hubble's body which matched the one he found on a body in 1959. He thinks his father suspected a fleeing drifter of trying to steal the Hubble car and killing Sheila.

Two years later, Everett Hubble helped the elder Valenti find the drifter. The sheriff implies that his father shot the drifter, but a startled look indicates that he shot Hubble instead.

"Whatever you do, Jimmy," the elder Valenti tells his son. "Don't trust him."

On the highway, Hubble slips in and out of the past as he tells Max about his wife's death. Hubble was planning to launch fireworks bought from an old Indian, but stopped at Pepper's Cafe to get matches to light them.

At the Crashdown Cafe in the present, Larry finds Jen and makes an announcement. He is not a hunter, but "a gatherer of information, a seeker of truth."

After noticing that Jen is in uniform -- helping out at the always-understaffed cafe -- he tells her they should settle down in Roswell and finally get married. Even as they hug, though, he looks off into the distance.

Hubble finishes his story, telling how he find his wife's body. It was only after she was dead that he learned that she was three months pregnant, but since then he has been "a dead man," kept alive only by a thirst for justice.

Hubble pulls a gun on Max, and accuses him of being the shape-shifting alien he has tracked for years. He's deduced this from Valenti's tales about the healing at the cafe and the hand prints.

Michael finds them and yells, surprising Hubble. Hubble and Max struggle, and when Hubble drops his gun Max uses his powers to push it away.

Valenti pulls up in his police car as Hubble gets his gun back and aims it at Max. Valenti draws his gun, telling Hubble to drop his.

Hubble says that Max is the alien killer and taunts Valenti, daring him to shoot. "Your father couldn't do it, and neither can you."

Valenti shoots Hubble, who falls dead.

Moved, Valenti apologizes to Max. He didn't realize Hubble was violent, and couldn't anticipate what happened.

Max is outraged, screaming at Valenti, "You're the sheriff. You're supposed to protect me. But all you've done is go after me!"

As Michael tries to step in, Max continues, "You want me? Well here I am. Take me."

There is a moment's pause, and Valenti tells Max and Michael to leave -- that they were never at the scene.

As Michael ushers Max away, Max warns him that the alien they're seeking is probably a killer. Behind them, Sheriff Valenti calls for assistance, alone.