Coming to the aid of a ship transporting dangerous criminals to their executions, Voyager's crew must choose whether to allow their ship to participate in the practice of capital punishment. The moral challenge increases when it becomes apparent that the "dangerous criminals" may be nothing more than a systematically persecuted ethnic group.

Encounter a Klingon vessel that has been wandering the Delta Quadrant for decades, Voyager invites the captain aboard, only to discover that he believes the unborn child of B'Elanna Torres to be the Klingon Messian, a situation which has uncomfortable and dangerous consequences, including a duel to the death, and an inter-species coupling!