Kidnapped by a notorious and slippery trader, the Doctor is sold into slavery on board a hospital ship where treatment is allocated according to the patient's use to society. Forced to watch patients die through lack of medicine, the holographic physician decides to take the law into his own hands.

In place of the usual communication from Starfleet, Voyager receives a super-nervous technician, who has found a way to get the ship home virtually instantaneously. While the crew prepare excitedly, the real Barclay and Deanna Troi uncover an evil Ferengi plan to kill everyone aboard the ship.