The crew of the Discovery are all knocked unconscious by the trip through the wormhole. Saru wakes up as the ship begins to crash towards the surface of a planet and directs everyone back to their stations. Detmer reroutes power to get control of the ship again but isn't able to pull out of the crash. They opt for a controlled crash. They end up buried in a glacier.

Detmers is celebrated for successfully bringing the ship down but is badly injured by the impact and directed to sick bay.

Saru directs everyone to prioritize repairs. Tilly reports that there are seemingly artificial pockets of oxygen and settlements indicating life.

Georgiou wants to prioritize communications but Saru insists they focus on getting the ship moving. 

In sick bay, Culber brings Stamets out of his induced coma in order to free up the biobed. Stamets insists he's ready to help but Culber refuses to let him go to work. Instead, he sets Stamets up in a cellular regeneration pod.

Detmers is checked out and cleared in sick bay but seems quite stunned and slow to react.

The ship needs rubindium to repair communications and Tilly has identified a natural source at a nearby settlement. Nhan suggests sending out a recon team. Tilly reports the settlement has 50 life signs and ships but no dilithium readings.

Saru directs Tilly to join him on recon, puts Nhan in charge, and sends Georgiou to repair the EPS grid.

Stamets gets to work and Reno attaches herself to him.

Saru and Tilly set out to make first contact with the settlement.

Nhan reveals to Georgiou that the ice they've landed on is parasitic. Georgiou questions why Nhan joined Discovery rather than staying with the Enterprise. Nhan says she stayed for Airiam. Georgiou says she stayed to avoid having to run Section 31. Exiting a lift, they run into Linus and Georgiou is struck by how much of the spectrum he can see. She escorts him to Deck 8, leaving Nhan behind.

Saru and Tiilly follow a figure into the settlement and approach a cavern. Suddenly, they are transported to a bar suspended on the cliff face.

They enter, noting that everyone is tense and most are armed. They draw phasers and Saru and TIlly stay relatively calm and introduce themselves. Tilly proves their Starfleet background and the phasers are put away.

They identify the planet as "The Colony" and themselves as miners. One names himself Kal. They are frightened of someone called Zareh. Tilly offers them dilithium and they are eager to help but still frightened of Zareh.

Stamets admits to Reno that he's in pain but insists on climbing up the tube to repair the relay.

Kal questions how old Discovery is based on the equipment Tilly brings him for repairs. His tech blows her mind. He confesses he's had his hopes pinned on Starfleet for a long time.

Saru finds out about Zareh from Os'ir, the bartender. Zareh's the Courier assigned to The Colony and has destroyed their equipment to keep them dependent on his deliveries.

Zareh arrives with goons. He wants Saru and Tilly to take him to the ship. He's figured out that they are time travellers. Zareh kills Kal for helping them. He scavenges their bags and plans to sell their vintage equipment on the Tellarite Exchange.

He informs them about the parasitic ice and how it will crush the ship and the crew inside.

Reno tries to talk Stamets through the relay repair. Nhan comes down looking for Georgiou and realizes she's been duped.

Zareh and Saru negotiate for dilithium and Zareh prepares to send Tilly off alone to the ship to retrieve it, warning her the ice will probably kill her.

Stamets is knocked over by a ship flex, incapacitated by pain and gushing blood from his torso. Reno orders a crew member to get Culber.

Zareh's goons throw Georgiou into the bar. Zareh shoots her multiple times but when he lets up, Saru sends Tilly into hiding while Georgiou takes out Zareh's entire squad with his help.

Saru stops her from executing Zareh. Tilly interrupts their argument to point out the daylight's gone. 

Culber joins Reno and realizes Stamets is in the tube, bleeding badly. Reno talks Stamets through the repair and he manages to restore power to the ship.

While Saru and Georgiou continue to argue, Zareh tries to intimidate Osir into shooting the Discovery crew members. Tilly hits him over the head with a bottle.

Georgiou acquiesces to Saru. Saru leaves Zareh's fate to Osir. Osir sends him out into the night, a pretty sure death sentence. 

To get them back to their ship, Os'ir give Saru a personal transporter. With power and comms working, they prepare to break free of the ice. Detmers is in a daze at her station.

When they try to lift off, the ice becomes more aggressive. Another ship arrives and pulls them out with a tractor beam. The ship hails them and, although Discovery is prepared to fight, Saru opens a channel to speak to the other ship. Burnham's face appears and she tells them that she's been waiting a year for them.