Dr. Paul Stubbs, an eminent scientist, has come aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise to study the explosion of a star in the Kavis Alpha Sector, which occurs only once every 196 years. As the crew prepares to launch Stubbs' research unit, the ship is suddenly drawn into the fiery path of the stellar matter. The U.S.S. Enterprise computers initially fail to respond to commands to stabilize, yet even after the ship is restored to normal, the computer reports no malfunction. Faced with the potential breakdown of the ship's main computer, Picard warns Stubbs that the mission may have to be aborted. Stubbs, who has devoted his career to studying the once-in-a-lifetime event, is insistent that his project be completed at any cost. Meanwhile, Wesley is shaken by the realization that an experiment he had been working on may be at the root of the ship's trouble.
