The story opens with the Falcon rescuing people from a burning apartment building; then word comes that old Mr. Brown is trapped in his blazing grocery store. Falcon crashes through the window, seizes the panicked old man, and hurries to safety just as the boiler explodes. Falcon realizes the fire was the result of arson. In the crowd, members of the Legion gang (Sam’s enemies as of last issue) are giving him dirty looks; also in an apartment a paranoid Max Dillon believes the fire was part of the Falcon’s pretext for spying on him….
Sam Wilson arrives home to find Police Sergeant Tork waiting in his living room, with a pair of punks he caught breaking into Sam’s apartment. Tork wants to get tough but Sam tries to intercede for them. The punks make a break for it and rush down the fire escape in to the street but Falcon and Tork easily catch them. Tork again lambastes the hero for his soft spot for young criminals as the takes the two off to jail….
At the precinct house, the place is in chaos as the President is coming for a fact-finding mission; the Chief of Police dislikes superheroes and orders Sam out of the building. As the Falcon he goes to visit elderly Mr. Brown in the hospital. Arriving, he discovers the old man on a ledge threatening to jump. Falcon goes out beside him, holding his hand and learning Brown’s story: he had nothing in the world but that store and was planning to sell it and retire but now he has nothing. Falcon shares his own dark past and encourages the man not to give up on life. Max Dillon is again passing by and is certain the whole event was staged to trap him….
The next day as the President’s motorcade proceeds though Harlem, bombs go off and in the confusion the President is kidnapped by the Legion. Falcon arrives on the scene—but is attacked by Electro—Max Dillon—who believes it is all a ruse to trap him. Falcon dodges the villain’s electric blasts and heads to the Legion’s fortified hideout. [Meanwhile, at the police station, Tork uses threats of violence to force the two captured felons to reveal that the purpose of the burglary was to lead the Falcon into a death trap.] Falcon tries to talk to the gang but Electro arrives on the scene. The hero gets the upper hand and starts pounding his foe but Electro unleashes a shock wave that knocks the Falcon out—and Electro collapses also from his injuries. Back at the police station, Tork receives a visit from Captain America looking for his partner….