stardate 49504.3. Voyager detects a distress call from a weakened life-form aboard a small spacecraft and quickly beams a deathly ill Vidiian female to Sickbay. The doctor starts treating her for advanced stages of the phage. As he becomes acquainted with the alien, something momentous occurs—his adaptive program allows him to experience love and romance.

stardate 49485.2. Upon request, Paris is relieved of duty to become a pilot with a Talaxian convoy-leaving behind a saddened crew. Almost immediately, the Kazon-Nistim and the scheming Seska attack the Talaxian fleet kidnaps Paris and attempt to coerce classified information from him. Meanwhile Neelix, a sudden, self-proclaimed journalist suspects someone aboard is secretly communicating with the Kazon.