A star observed through a ship's window is replicated as a model in the ship's office. Picard sits talking with a therapist/counsellor who looks like DS9's Dr. Bashir (but it's not Alexander Siddig, the actor is James Callis). It is a routine psych evaluation, but Picard is resistant and angry.

In an effort to get Picard to open up, the therapist hands him the model star to inspire a story. Picard tells a made-up story of a queen with red hair who is talented at telling stories. The scene shifts to a fantastical version of Picard's childhood with his mother. As a child, he expresses a desire to be like his mother rather than his father. His mother looks sad at this.

The scene becomes sinister. The window they are painting comes to life and they run away to the dungeon. The child stumbles and the queen is dragged away into the darkness.

Picard, in Dr. Ramirez's clinic, is still unconscious but becoming agitated.

Seven and Raffi head back to La Sirena to try to track down Jurati. They discover the system has been encrypted with Borg coding.

In the clinic, Tallinn prepares to dive into Picard's subconscious.

She finds herself in the dungeon.

In the therapy session, Picard realizes something has changed. The therapist notes that Picard's story indicates depression and plans to recommend he be relieved of duty in case he takes his crew on a suicide mission. He comments, "There's a thousand ways to die out there," which triggers something in Picard.

Tallinn wanders through the dungeon, hearing Picard's voice speaking lines from his time aboard the Enterprise. She finds the boy prince. He insists on waiting for his mother. She tries to find a solution to the situation. He explains that a monster took his mother.

In the therapy session, the therapist questions Picard's inability to open up, guessing there's a guilt he hides from everyone. A thumping comes from outside the room. Picard angrily cuts off the therapist's analysis of him.

Tallinn and the boy prince hide from the enemies in the dungeon. The boy tells her they need to get to the white door that moves because his mother is behind it.

A fog rolls in and they are attacked by monsters.

Dr. Ramirez returns to the clinic with her son. She is upset to find the door to Picard locked and demands the keys from Rios. She sees Tallinn in her subconscious investigative state.

In the dungeon, Tallinn fights back against her monster but the monster who has the boy prince shackles him.

Dr. Ramirez insists on taking Picard to a hospital. Rios orders up a neural oscillator for Picard from Raffi. Teresa sees the item transport in, shocked.

Rios directs her to use it on Picard to stabilize him.

In the dungeon, Tallinn realizes the boy prince is calling up the monsters to prevent him from saving his mother out of fear of what he might find. She reassures him.

The oscillator works. Teresa asks Rios if he's from outer space. He admits to working in outer space.

A door appears in the darkness. Tallinn and the boy prince open it and walk through.

On La Sirena, Raffi brings coffee to Seven who has managed to hack into the system. They find a security log video showing Jurati implanting the Borg code into the system.

In Picard's mind, the therapy room disappears and turns into Chateau Picard. Tallinn and the boy prince walk in.

They hear banging and turn to find the therapist reading a book next to the white door. The boy prince calls the therapist a monster, accusing him of trapping his mother. The therapist reveals that he's Picard father, Maurice. Picard accuses him of ruining his mother. Maurice tells Picard to remember the real past.

Picard remembers his mother frantically urging him to go into the tunnels under the Chateau. In the tunnels, he gets stuck and she leaves him behind. His father finds him hours later. His mother had to be restrained in her depressive states. Maurice locked her away to keep her safe.

Young Jean-Luc stands at the white door. Tallinn tries to reassure him. She steps away and sees him take a key out of his pocket as the mother's voice calls to him for help. As he goes to unlock the door, Tallinn realizes there's more to the memory.

In the clinic, Picard sits up, and Tallinn returns to consciousness as well.

Out in the waiting room, Rios and Teresa's son create a chalk mural. Rios and Teresa talk about trust. To convince her he's telling the truth, he transports the three of them to La Sirena.

Raffi and Seven are in LA, looking for Jurati. They find surveillance footage of her entering a pub. Jurati enters, breaks a window, picks up a big guy.

Raffi fills Picard in on their search. Tallinn checks in with Picard to let him know Renée is fine. She also shares that she is actually Romulan.

Picard is in a rush to continue their mission. Tallinn points out that he's skipping something important. He deems it irrelevant, but she persists and Picard realizes that Q is personally invested in this trial. He posits that if they know what Q has to risk, they can lead the dance.

Picard goes to Guinan to try to summon Q. She brings out a bottle that contains the truce between the El-Aurians and the Q. She performs a summoning ritual but it doesn't work.

Watching the footage again, Seven deduces that the queen is doing things for a rush of endorphins in order to assimilate Jurati faster and become capable of assimilating others.

At Ten Forward, Guinan and Picard discuss what did and didn't happen. A stranger walks in, looking for a drink. He keeps interrupting them. Eventually, he shows them a video of Picard transporting to the street outside the bar. Suddenly, there are FBI agents everywhere. Picard and Guinan are put into custody under suspicion of being aliens.