Stardate: Unknown While on a routine survey mission, Enterprise answers a distress call from a nearby cargo vessel. After the survivors and the cargo are beamed to Enterprise, it becomes clear that something is amiss. The survivors are from two different planets, but both claim the "critically important" cargo. The cargo appears to be a relieving suave for one of the planet's ongoing medical plague problem. However, the cargo and the people who developed it are not what they appear to be, and have their own ulterior motives. Picard must weigh the "prime directive" restraint against interfering in what he feels is the right thing to do. His solution in the matter must avoid this issue, but also resolve the two planet's dilemma.

Mac and Jack return from a flight to find an abandoned baby in Jack's hangar, complete with a desperate note from the mother and his own endowment fund hidden in his diapers.