In New York City, two punks come across a car they decide to steal, unaware that the car is actually Tracks. They think it's just the thing they've been looking for, so one of them pops the lock and they break in. As they start the car, one of the punks finds a funky boom box, not realizing it's actually Blaster.

The punks drive to a warehouse, where they meet a guy called Winston. They drop the car off for him, and he is about to pay them for it, but then Tracks transforms. He tells them to freeze, so they immediately all run for it.

The punks gets a surprise when their stolen boom box transforms, and Blaster quickly catches both of them. Winston runs towards the front door, only for Optimus Prime to show up.

Winston uselessly fires a gun, but Prime tells him to throw down his gun and surrender. Some cops show up, and one of the officers tells the Autobots that thanks to them, their crime buster program is a smashing success. The Autobots head back to Sparkplug's garage.

They meet Sparkplug and find out there hasn't been any news from Teletraan I, so the Decepticons must be laying low. He opens a secret door for them, revealing a hidden room with a computer in it. As they head in to meet the other Autobots, Tracks tells Prime he finds the city exhilarating, and they can remain here forever as far as he's concerned. Hoist tells Huffer that Tracks certainly seems to enjoy investigative work. Huffer thinks Tracks would rather hang out with humans than them any day.

Tracks says that's for obvious reasons, at least humans aren't stick in the muds spinning their treads all day long. Prime tells Powerglide and Cosmos to patrol the skies for any sign of the Decepticons, whilst Seaspray is to check out the rivers. Tracks is walking off and Prime asks him where he is going, Tracks tells him he's going out for some city air, as it's too stuffy in here for him. Prime tells him not to be gone for too long.

Tracks transforms and heads out, but after stopping at some lights a gang come up and tell him to hold it. One of the punks says the Geddis brothers would pay premium for this car, and order the driver out. But they then realize there is nobody driving it, as Tracks moves forward and causes them all to run. They start shooting at him, and happen to blow out one of his tires.

This causes him to crash into a lamp post, and it ruins his hood. He tries to transform, but finds the damage has made it impossible for him to do so. He comes to a stop and is quickly found by another guy: Raoul. Raoul thinks the car is a mess, but it's still a sports car.

And since nobody seems to want the car, that makes it his. He has a couple of guys help him push it to a secluded area, where he can start doing some repairs on it. He sees the car needs two new tires, the carb is probably shot, the front end needs tweaking and he can hammer that hood into shape no sweat.

As Raoul starts to make repairs, he says he doesn't know who used to own the car, but it's his now. Tracks surprises him when he tells him nobody owns him. Tracks says he's been shot at, smashed up and stolen three times tonight, and he's in a foul mood. So if he'd be so kind, he wants Raoul to repair him. Raoul says he'll fix him up alright, but then he's selling him to the Geddis brothers, as he promised them a car by midnight. And he needs the bread more than he needs a set of wheels. Tracks asks him if he needs it more than he needs a friend.

Raoul thinks this is the first time he's tried to steal a car... and he gets one with a big mouth. He finds two tires, and Tracks wonders where he's managed to get them at this time of night, but Raoul asks him if he wants to get fixed up, or if he wants to ask dumb questions. He could always go off and do a couple of burners instead of working on him, and reveals a spray can he has hidden in his jacket. Tracks isn't too impressed that he does graffiti, but Raoul says he's not in the mood to be lectured by a car. He pops open the hood and wonders what the heck this engine is supposed to be, then cuts a cable, despite Tracks telling not to. This shuts Tracks down, so he quickly reconnects it, making Tracks reactivate. Tracks explains that cable is the main cable to his computer, and without it, he's just an ordinary car.

Out at the river, Seaspray is on the search for Decepticons, but finds nothing but junk. He helps someone trying to pull a car out of the water, and then tells Prime he has nothing to report here.

Prime checks in with Powerglide, who also hasn't found anything. Prime tells him to report anything that even looks like a Decepticon, or Tracks -he's getting worried about him. At the West Side, Cosmos hasn't got anything to report, other than a massive traffic jam caused by a fender bender. Huffer and Hoist are stuck in it, and Huffer thinks it's just their luck -it'll take hours before they get out of here.

Hoist gets out and transforms, and tows one of the wrecked cars away. Huffer just wishes they all had wings like Tracks, as he bets he wouldn't be caught in a jam like this. Meanwhile, Raoul finishes off the repairs, but has second thoughts about turning Tracks over to the Geddis brothers. But the Geddis brothers then arrive, and want to know where their car is, as it is now one minute after midnight. Which means Raoul is late, so they decided to teach him what happens to bad little boys who break their promises.

However, Tracks drives up and transforms, and tells them to unhand him. Raoul gets thrown, but Tracks catches him. As the Geddis brothers run off to their own car, one of them says he thought the robots were on their side.

As the Geddis brothers drive away, Tracks transforms back to his car mode and has Raoul board him. The two go after the crooks, but it looks like they've lost them. Tracks reveals he can fly, and quickly finds the brother's car again. They chase them to a warehouse...

...but then they really do lose them, as they manage to hide. Tracks and Raoul head back, but Raoul wants to know why Tracks is so mad at losing the Geddis brothers. Tracks explains it's because the crooks thought he was a Decepticon, so therefore he assumes they are dealing with the Decepticons. Raoul says the Geddis brothers are trying to corner the hot car business, but Tracks wonders why the Decepticons would want stolen cars. Since Raoul knows where the Geddis brothers hide their stolen cars, Tracks tells him to take him there.

They arrive at some warehouses at the docks, and see lots of cars heading over a bridge. Raoul says the bridge goes across the Hudson river, to Jersey, so Tracks follows the cars. Meanwhile, Powerglide spots Starscream and reports it to Prime. He starts to follow him, but Starscream loops around a building to get behind Powerglide instead.

Cosmos then zooms in to help out, and fires at Starscream. Starscream dodges his shots, but lands, transforms and runs into a shopping mall. The two Autobots follow him, but as they head further in, they can't see him. He's managed to get above them...

...and starts firing wildly, with his shots causing the people to flee. One shot causes an elevator to break, but Cosmos transforms and saves it before it smashes. He transforms back and lets the people out, before he and Powerglide go back after Starscream.

They see him run up an escalator and follow him, but as they get to the top, he blasts them back down. He then transforms and crashes through the roof, getting away. Powerglide and Cosmos go back and report this to Prime, who finds out they saw Starscream fly away in a south westerly direction.

Prime thinks Starscream might have been heading for New Jersey, to the Pine Barrens. Meanwhile, Tracks and Raoul arrive at Pine Barrens, and see some sort of structure that the Geddis brothers have stopped at, along with all of their stolen cars. They tell their men to get onto the bus, which will take them back to the city, and they'll be paid when they get back. The brothers tell their partner in crime that all of the cars are here: 500 in total.

And that crime partner is Megatron! He tells them they've done well, but they want their million bucks. Megatron says he's got it right here, and fires at them. The brothers have no chance against him, and run away.

Hook appears and says they're ready to reconvert this final batch of vehicles. Tracks tries to radio Prime, but finds that his radio has been damaged during that earlier crash. They watch as Soundwave and Rumble start putting the cars onto a conveyer belt. Raoul wonders what they are doing, so Tracks decides to find out. He has Raoul leave him, and then drives down to join the car queue.

Rumble pushes him onto the conveyer belt, as the cars move into the building. Tracks sees what's going on -Scrapper is cutting up the cars as they pass! He says he has no desire to be carved up into auto-sushi...

...but then his computer cable breaks again, deactivating him. Raoul is watching and tells him to get out of there, but Tracks doesn't respond. Raoul runs down and asks the Decepticons what they're doing with his car. If they're doing to rip it up for spare parts, he has a nasty surprise for them. He's got an anti-stripping device on it: a bomb!

Megatron tells him to disconnect the bomb, and maybe he'll let him live. He has the conveyer belt stopped, so Raoul pops the hood open and immediately sees what's wrong with Tracks. He reconnects the cable, and Tracks comes back online once more. He transforms and starts firing.

But he's badly outnumbered, and he and Raoul are forced to retreat. They head off, but are chased by Rumble and Ravage, and to make things worse, Tracks is low on power. He has to transform back and says he'll handle the Decepticons in robot mode. But his power is so low, he can't even stand up any more.

Raoul says he'll draw their fire, and runs off, getting Ravage to follow him. But some other Autobots arrive to help, as Sideswipe tackles a pouncing Ravage, whilst Bumblebee and Jazz fire at Rumble. The two Decepticons retreat.

Tracks is taken back to Sparkplug's garage, and is fixed up. He tells Prime what he saw, and Prime says Megatron is converting the stolen vehicles into cars that can drive on their own, although he suspects there is more to it than that. Teletraan I then goes off, altering the Autobots to the fact the Decepticon cars are driving into New York City. The Autobots roll out, splitting into different groups.

Prime, Ratchet and Blaster get to a bridge, and comes across loads of Decepticon cars heading their way. They open fire and blast many of them to bits, but the remaining ones have a surprise: they can transform!

They transform into robots and move forward, but Blaster doesn't think they look that smart. And it turns out their aim isn't too good either, but they have got the Autobots outnumbered. Prime orders to fire, and many of the Decepticon drones are destroyed.

In the city, Tracks and his group encounter a group of drones, and a battle begins. The drones aren't very resilient and get obliterated, but some of their shots hit the Chrysler Building, causing part of it to catch fire. As the remaining drones are destroyed, Inferno heads up the building...

...and puts out the fire. Elsewhere in the city, Ironhide leads some Autobots against more drones, and another battle starts. Back on the bridge, Prime's group keep firing, but the drones keep coming.

Ratchet checks the wreckage of a drone and finds out something interesting: these drones don't appear to have any brains. Prime realizes they must be run on remote control, so he has Blaster start broadcasting a jamming frequency. Blaster does this, which knocks out all the drones.

The Autobots regroup and head to Pine Barrens, where they transform and begin their attack on the Decepticons. Raoul has a pipe and runs off inside the building...

...so he can smash up the control center. But before he can do that, Megatron catches him. The Autobots battle against the Decepticons, but then Megatron appears with Raoul. Prime tells the Autobots to hold their fire, which Megatron says is a sensible move -he can't guarantee this worthless human's safety unless they surrender.

Raoul quickly takes out his spray can and pushes a button on Megatron, causing a panel on his chest to open. He sprays paint inside it, causing him to short circuit and fall down. Soundwave and Rumble pick their leader up and head back to their HQ.

The other Decepticons decide to also retreat, leaving the Autobots with one problem left. Prime gives Tracks the honors, as he blasts the building and totally destroys it.

The Autobots return to Sparkplug's garage with the remaining stolen cars. Prime wants the cars converted back to normal, and returned to their owners. Sparkplug says even with Ratchet, Hoist and Wheeljack working with him, it'll take weeks, so he sure could use some extra help. Raoul tries to leave, but Tracks stops him and puts him in front of one of the cars. Raoul thinks he's some friend, but Tracks tells him to relax, as he'll help him fix these cars. Raoul says one things for sure: he'll never steal a car again -Tracks is more trouble than he's worth! Tracks says he saved his life, but Raoul says he saved Tracks' life twice. Tracks tells him to pipe down, and pass him that socket wrench...

NOTES

-Sparkplug has his own garage in New York City, which also serves as a secret base for the Autobots. So it seems he's got himself a new job after leaving the oil rig early on in the first season.

-There are lots of signs in this episode's street scenes, but there's one very obvious one that advertises a Transformers movie:

The real movie would have been in production at this point, but wouldn't be released until August 1986, whilst this episode originally aired in October 1985.