Picard lies injured on the ground while his team encourages him to fight to live. He hallucinates memories from his childhood and his mother.

Flashback 34 minutes. Picard is waiting to enter the gala with Tallinn. She asks him about Laris.

He contacts Jurati to let her know he, Tallinn, and Rios are in position.

She knocks out the guards, but they’re too far away for her to get the keys for the cuffs. The queen helps her out, and Jurati gets the IDs into the system.

Injured Picard is surrounded by voices despairing at his survival. He’s hooked up to medical equipment. More visions of his mother.

Flashback 26 minutes. Seven, Raffi, and Rios watch Renée from a distance in the gala. Picard and Tallinn watch from a different table. Tallinn says Renée looks okay but her anxiety tell is a pull on the earlobe.

Jurati and the Borg queen have a debate about their situation.

Rios and Raffi talk. Raffi notes his behavior and demeanor are very different since meeting Dr. Theresa. They also notice how relaxed and happy Seven is without her Borg implants. Rios goes to look around. Raffi thinks she sees Elnor again.

Picard and Tallinn see Renée pull her earlobe and text someone. Tallinn checks and the text is to Therapist Q. Renée plans to quit the mission. Picard wants to intercept Renée and needs Jurati to distract the mission commander. The Borg queen has turned off the communicator. Rios comes over in person to check on her. The Borg queen intervenes and Jurati kisses him then hurries away.

Renée is getting drunk quickly and has a panic attack. She rushes off and Picard follows.

Picard is intercepted by Adam Soong. He reveals that he’s in contact with Q and Picard tries to warn him off. In response, Adam asks a Europa big wig to have Picard removed from the gala.

Injured Picard is still unconscious. A defibrillator is applied. He hears his mother tell him to look up.

Flashback 14 minutes. Picard makes his way through the gala pursued by security. Rios is tailing Renée. Jurati is struggling with the Borg queen’s influence. Tallinn reports that the exits are covered. Picard concludes that they’re trapped. The Borg queen offers to help Jurati help the team.

She initiates a nano-electric pulse and shuts down the gala’s electronics. To distract, Jurati makes an entrance on a balcony, belting Pat Benatar’s “Shadows of the Night” a capella. The band joins in and she finishes the song to great applause.

As they take the bow, the queen reveals the endorphins have helped her complete Jurati’s assimilation.

Picard finds Renée, and talks with her about fear and melancholy. She connects with him and finds her confidence.

Outside the gala, Adam Soong waits in his car, remembering how happy Kore was for the brief time she could stand in the sun. He starts the car and tries to run down Renée as she and Picard walk back to the gala. Picard pushes her out of the way and gets hit instead.

Rios and Tallinn rush to him. Rios plans to take Picard to Dr. Theresa.

Dr. Theresa does her best, not knowing Picard is a synth. Her defibrillator feedback when she zaps him, but his heartbeat stabilizes. She kicks everyone out of the examination room.

Adam Soong returns home to Kore, disappointed in himself. Kore wants to know what happened. He rambles on worryingly. Kore is scared.

Back at the clinic, Dr. Theresa reports that Picard is stable but non-responsive. She has no explanation for why he isn’t waking up. She has to go home to check on her son. Before she leaves, she and Rios talk.

Kore looks up her father on the Internet and finds information on his ethical violations and the consequences he’s suffered.

On the computer, she finds video files of Adam with her as a child but she has no memory of the events being filmed. She finds a video log he made reporting that “Persephone” has a chance of survival and then a follow-up where he reports Persephone died at one month old.

Other videos report the passing of Despoina, Artemis, and others. His final report is about her.

Tallinn has tech that can scan Picard’s brain while he’s comatose. It indicates he thinks he’s in danger. Tallinn hypothesizes his coma is psychological. In his mind, Picard is reliving life with his mother. Tallinn believes he’s caught in a loop and stuck. She offers to go in and bring him out.

Raffi objects, fearing the worst if it doesn’t work. Rios and Seven back the plan, seeing it as the only way.

As they prepare for Tallinn to use tech to mind-meld with Picard, we see Jurati walking barefoot down a Los Angeles street.