Grayson and Cassius are having a date in the simulator in a program based on an idyllic WW2 wartime American city street. Cassius wants to take a vacation but Grayson keeps putting him off. They have a relationship conversation which gets awkward. Grayson breaks up with Cassius. She's summoned to the bridge and leaves it at that.

The Orville is approaching Moclus. The Moclans are loaning them an engineer for a ship upgrade. When the shuttle arrives, Bortus greets the Moclan engineer by name and directs Keyali to escort Lokar to engineering. 

When the shuttle departs, Grayson asks Bortus about the engineer and he reveals that Lokar is an old boyfriend. 

In engineering, Keyali tries to engage Lokar in conversation after Bortus leaves them alone but he is stoic. 

At dinner, Klyden asks Bortus about seeing Lokar and Topa asks about relationships. Lokar interrupts their meal and Bortus is not pleased but Klyden invites him in to join them for dinner. Once seated, Lokar states that he would like to be friends with Bortus.

As the ship prepares for the planned exercise, Jenny brings cupcakes into engineering. Dann likes them but Lokar rejects them rudely. 

On the bridge, Bortus shares what Moclan break-up etiquette is. 

Engineering lets them know they're ready to begin the deflector test. The Moclan ship fires several times in pursuit of the Orville and the deflector upgrade is declared a success.

Cassius sends Grayson a cookie bouquet which she has on her desk. Mercer asks about it and she tells him she broke up with Cassius. He asks and she lets him eat a cookie. Keyali and Bortus report that Engineering is ready to finalize the upgrade on Mercer order. Mercer gives it and they leave. He tells Grayson the cookie is good and she offers him the whole basket. He takes it.

Keyali enters her quarters to find Lokar there. He reveals that he is attracted to her which confuses her. He explains that he is heterosexual which is punishable by lifetime imprisonment on Moclus. He hopes that she reciprocates but she is hesitant as she barely knows him. 

Grayson and Mercer are dining together and she's filling him in on the messages she keeps getting from Cassius. He is commiserating with her and giving some guy-pal advice.

The rest of the bridge crew is watching them and discussing Isaac's relationship. Keyali thinks they should just get back together.

She meets Lokar in the conference room and they discuss his situation. She invites him for a walk in the simulator. They enter the same program as Grayson and Cassius were in. Keyali teaches him to dance, human-style.

He kisses her and she reciprocates. Grayson contacts Keyali and asks her to come to her quarters. Keyali leaves Lokar there where he practices dancing. Klyden finds him there.

Keyali enters Grayson's quarters to find a giant talking plant there. He's a Catrudian friend of Cassius' and he's there to plead Cassius case. Grayson wants him gone. 

Keyali returns to the simulator but Lokar is gone. She uses the simulator's playback feature to find out what happened. Klyden shape is unrecognizable but it fires a weapon and disintegrates Lokar.

The ship's team meets with the Moclan captain and discuss Lokar's murder. When Keyali reveals that they had been attracted to each other, the Moclan captain is enraged and accuses her of having done something to Lokar. Keyali accuses the Moclans of being bigoted and gets sent to the captain's office to wait. 

Despite her involvement with the victim, Mercer allows Keyali to head the investigation into his murder. She seeks out Bortus. He is angry with her for encouraging Lokar to be himself. She is taken aback by his reaction and comments about Topa's gender change which triggers Bortus dramatically.

In the simulator, LaMarr and Isaac fix the corrupted data and discover that the murderer is Klyden.

In the brig, Klyden protests that he did not kill Lokar. He admits to confronting him in the simulator but planned on turning him in to the authorities on Moclus. Bortus believes him but he is still the only suspect. 

Keyali discusses the case with Malloy and LaMarr and wonders if Klyden is being set up. She goes to talk to Bortus and he reveals that he knew about Lokar's preference for females from the beginning. When he explains that Moclan culture sees not only heterosexuality but suicide a disgrace, Keyali realizes that Lokar isn't actually dead.

Using the ship's security team, Keyali combs the ship for Lokar and finds him hiding aboard the shuttle, using the shuttle's cloak to hide himself. He begs her to leave him but she can't. She advises him to claim asylum aboard the Orville but he refuses and tells her to take him to his ship.

Mercer and Grayson are discussing the differences between Moclan culture and the Planetary Union's values. When Cassius appears, Mercer leaves. Cassius asks her if she's still in love with Ed and she isn't able to give a straight answer. He tells her that he'll be transferring to another ship and she congratulates him. They shake hands and he walks away.

Klyden finds Keyali in the conference room to thank her for proving his innocence. She makes it clear that she was doing her job but holds him responsible for Lokar's downfall. He leaves her in tears and returns to his quarters where Bortus meets him in silence.

On Moclus, we see Lokar marched into a courtroom in shackles and a judge drop a gavel-block, seemingly condemning him without any sort of trial.