Red alert on a Starfleet ship. Systems are malfunctioning. An intruder is on the bridge and Starfleet officers are attacking and dying.

Picard, Seven, Jurati, and Rios are on the bridge. A Borg queen is assimilating the ship. Picard activates auto-destruct. The queen calls his name. He turns to look at her and the ship's countdown ends.

Flashback 48 hrs earlier on the grounds of Chateau Picard. It's harvest time. Picard and Laris oversee the activities and production.

They relax together with a glass of wine and drink a toast to Zhaban who passed away a year and a half ago. Laris asks him about his solitude. She intimates that she would like to have a romantic relationship with him. At the last moment, he hesitates and she makes excuses to leave.

Picard remembers being a child in the chateau, moping about being away from Paris. His mother joins him in the conservatory and promises it'll be their special place.

In the now, Picard visits the conservatory, now in disrepair and filled with shattered window glass.

In his memory, the child Jean-Luc asks if there will still be fights and his mother's smile fades. Sudden flashes of violence and Jean-Luc runs to the conservatory and smashes the windows with rocks. His mother advises him to look to the stars when the voices at home are too loud.

Camera pans away from earth into space where an anomaly suddenly forms, knocking a starship off course.

The U.S.S. Avalon reports the anomaly.

In the morning, Picard is looking for a book. Laris finds him in the library. She finds the book for him. He tries to discuss their talk from the evening but she's done.

At Starfleet Academy, Picard addresses the class and acknowledges Elnor, the first Romulan cadet in Starfleet.

On board La Sirena, Seven fights off pirates after her cargo. One of the Rios holos shows up to tell her there's something going on outside. Once the pirates are dispatched, the holo shows her the subspace distortion.

On Raritan IV, Beta Quadrant, Soji and Jurati are attending a diplomatic dinner. Isa is dining. Jurati is drinking and rebuffing flirtatious advances.

Rios contacts her and she leaves Soji to go help him out. They've broken up but they'd agreed to work together.

Jurati beams up to Rios's ship, The Stargazer. He fills her in on the subspace anomaly.

At the Academy, Raffi and Picard chat as the cadets are being assigned to their ships. Picard is now Chancellor of the Academy.

Elnor's been assigned to the Excelsior, Raffi's ship.

Picard gives Elnor Spock's memoir. Raffi and Elnor depart.

Rios and Jurati are looking at the anomaly when Seven arrives.

A message comes out of the anomaly. Jurati analyzes it and translates it as repeating the phrase, "Help us, Picard"

In Los Angeles, Picard seeks out Guinan at her bar located at #10 Forward Ave. They discuss his dilemma with Laris.

Back at the Chateau, Admiral Whitley arrives unexpectedly. She shares the distress message which begins with "Help us, Picard" and then begins reciting the entirety of Article 15, an entreaty to join the Federation.

He leaves with Whitley just as Laris comes into the house.

Picard boards the Stargazer and meets up with Seven. She informs him that this new version of the USS Stargazer utilizes components from the Borg Cube artifact. Seven feels unwanted on the ship due to fear and hatred towards the Borg.

Once on the bridge, Picard hails the anomaly, announcing his arrival. After a pause, the anomaly sends a message repeating his name and sending something through the ship's computers. Rios calls a Red Alert, bringing us to the scenes at the start of the episode.

A Borg ship emerges from the anomaly.

Raffi's ship, the Excelsior, arrives to assist. Picard is uncertain of the next move. Seven doesn't believe the Borg want to join the Federation.

The Borg hail the ship, demanding negotiations with Picard. They offer to send an emissary to the ship, a Borg queen.

Rios tells the Borg ship to cease their transport attempt but they persist, attempting to transport her through the ship's shields and onto the bridge.

The crew prepare to attack the queen when she arrives.

The figure that appears looks different from Borg and Borg queens previously encountered.

The figure states they wish for peace but first they need power. An appendage emerges and plugs into the nearest consoles. Seven opens fire. The rest of the crew start shooting and the emissary fires back, knocking them out.

The computer alerts them that the emissary is transferring bridge control. Jurati realizes the emissary is accessing the Borg modifications in the Stargazer and using them to access the rest of the system and fleet.

Picard activates the auto-destruct. As the countdown nears zero, the emissary addresses Picard and tells him to "Look up."

In the aftermath, Picard wakes up in his conservatory. He makes his way into his study but things are different.

Calling for Laris, a synth valet arrives instead, offering him a drink.

As Picard questions what has happened, Q arrives and informs him he is now at the very end of the road not taken.