When an aspiring writer turns up in the middle of the night, an elderly Jake Sisko recounts his life, which has become an endless quest to locate his father, after an accident in the engine room of the Defiant apparently claimed Benjamin Sisko's life.

Major Kira and Gul Dukat form an uneasy alliance as they search for a missing Cardassian prison ship, the Ravinok, that disappeared six years earlier while carrying Bajoran prisoners. Back on DS9, Sisko is overwhelmed by the prospect of Kasidy Yates living aboard the station when she decides to take work closer to Bajor.