The Tok'ra turns down a request for an alliance against the Goa'uld because Earth doesn't offer enough rewards to justify the security breach. Selmak, a Tok'ra whose host is dying, requests a human host. Carter suggests her father, Jacob Carter, who is dying of cancer.

SG-1 discovers a device on a planet, Madrona, called the Touchstone which seems to have the ability to regulate the weather. SG-1 gets permission to stay on the planet to study the device but when they return it has been stolen and the Madronans blame SG-1.