Enterprise encounters Ferengi pirates who use a booby-trapped artifact to gas the crew into unconsciousness, then pillage the ship for treasures. But they haven't counted on Tucker, who happens to be in the decon chamber and avoids the gas, and attempts to win back the ship from the pirates.

The Enterprise crew find a small craft drifting in space and are surprised to find it contains a human corpse. More questions arise when the Suliban and Tholians make claims to the craft.

Archer and Tucker are arrested and placed on a prisoner transport heading for a penal colony, Canamar. They won't have a chance to correct this error, as one of the inmates plots a takeover of the ship.