The Enterprise-D is on its way to Luxor IV so that work can be done on the ship's systems. The crew also wants to go there as there will be four other starships there - with five ships a fleet poker championship game can be held. These plans go awry when they are called to an archeological dig at Atropos to take T'Sara - an elderly Vulcan female believed to be suffering from Bendii Syndrome - back home to Vulcan. The crew arrives at the planet to find almost the entire archeological team dead, and only T'Sara left barely alive.