The U.S.S. Enterprise receives an emergency transmission from a science station on the planet Ventax. The Ventaxians are in a panic, convinced a mythic figure called Ardra has returned to fulfill a thousand-year-old contract. According to legend, she promised the citizens of the once war-torn planet a thousand years of peace and prosperity in exchange for their enslavement at the end of that time. When Picard takes Worf, Data and Troi to the planet to help Jared, the Ventaxian leader, Ardra suddenly appears before them.
