Malloy serenades a casual crew gathering in his quarters with Jimmy Webb’s “That’s All I’ve Got To Say” to great applause from the listeners.

Isaac tries to engage Burke in conversation but she rebuffs him. Isaac asks LaMarr for advice on how to start a conversation.

Burke’s snooping and finds Malloy’s replicated cell phone artifact. He explains the real one was found in a time capsule. It belonged to a woman named Laura Huggins (The Orville Season 2 Episode 11). Malloy tells Burke about Laura and then takes a selfie with her and Bortus, who is about to leave the party.

LaMarr’s pitching a new project, claiming it’s two major breakthroughs for the price of one. It involves temporal fields. He demonstrates with Malloy’s sandwich.

Grayson and Mercer notify Admiral Perry of how potent the device has become because of LaMarr and Isaac’s tinkering. Perry orders the device be transferred to the care of a maximum security research station.

On their way to the station, Admiral Ozawa informs them there has been no response to hails from the station. Talla confirms this.

The convoy increases speed to the station. They arrive and find the station destroyed.

A convoy of Kaylon ships arrives. They attack.

Admiral Ozawa calls for a full retreat. A Kaylon tractor beam locks onto the Orville.

Mercer hails the Kaylon and threatens to destroy the device. They announce their intention to board the ship. Mercer sends Talla to destroy the device but the ship is hit hard just at that moment, knocking Talla to the ground.

Gordon volunteers to destroy the device.

Isaac suggests using the core to overload the deflectors and disrupt the Kaylon tractor beam.

Gordon is just about to fire a weapon on the time device when the core overloads causing him to be temporally displaced.

The tractor beam is disrupted and they escape.

The Orville hides in a nebula. Malloy’s disappearance has been noted and LaMarr, Mercer, Keyali, Grayson, and Isaac are trying to figure out what happened to him in the time device lab.

Bortus has the con on the bridge and reports they are being hailed by Malloy.

His message originates from Earth in the year 2015. He’s trapped and asks them to come get him.

The records show that Malloy dies at age 98 in the past.

His obituary reads, “Mr. Malloy died peacefully at his home in Pasadena, California, on July 12, 2068. He was an exceptionally skilled pilot and maintenance mechanic for a local charter airline. He moved to Pasadena from rural Connecticut in 2018 and married his beloved wife, Laura Huggins, a singer and teacher, the following year.

“Little is known of Mr. Malloy’s life before he moved to Pasadena. According to his acquaintances, he earned his private pilot’s license in his late teens, and was largely self-taught as an aircraft mechanic. Colleagues described him as one of the most intuitive and insightful aerospace specialists they had ever known, with a knowledge of engines, aerodynamics, and electronic flight systems surpassing that of many graduates of top-tier universities.

“In a career spanning more than three decades, Malloy logged some 25,000 flight hours in a variety of commercial and experimental aircraft. He was certified to fly contra-rotating twin propellor planes, single, twin, and triple engine jets, and, late in his career, hypersonic trans-atmospheric vehicles powered by liquid, hybrid-solid, and metallic hydrogen fueled rocket motors. His favorite flying machine was a single-seat, jet-powered stunt plane he built himself.”

LaMarr hypothesizes a rescue is possible but it’ll strain the quantum drive. Mercer wants to try.

They make the jump in time and then head to Earth. They arrive and hide out on the far side of the moon. LaMarr informs them they didn’t make it to 2015. They’ve arrived in 2025. Malloy’s been on Earth for ten years.

Mercer and Grayson head down to get Malloy. Isaac, disguised with a portable holo device, and Burke go down in the same shuttle to get fuel for the quantum core.

Mercer and Grayson find Malloy at an airfield. Malloy can barely believe it. When they talk about returning home, he takes them in his Toyota, license plate OVILLE, to show them his life now.

Arriving at his home, he declares he’s not going back with them. Taking them inside, he introduces them to his son, Edward, and his pregnant wife, Laura.

Isaac and Burke are walking and scanning for a suitable drilling site. Isaac reports the closest site is 23.7 km away. Burke spots a biker bar and decides to commandeer some transportation.

She bets Isaac against the strongest biker in order to win two bikes for them. He wins and they leave on the bikes.

At Malloy’s house, Laura tells Grayson and Mercer about how she and Malloy ended up married.

On the ship, Talla checks in on LaMarr’s ship repairs. He complains of a back pain and she solves it which precipitates a sexual encounter.

Mercer and Grayson try to convince Malloy that he must return to his time. Malloy says he tried to follow the rules for three year but now the rules don’t apply to him. He says they took too long to answer his call for help. He’s happy now.

Laura comes in and Malloy tells Mercer and Grayson it’s time for them to leave.

Malloy tells Laura the truth of where he came from. She accepts it.

Isaac and Burke find the drilling site. It’s a vacant home in a suburb. When they peek in the window, the realtor trying to sell the house approaches them.

They pretend to be a couple looking to buy. Burke gets the realtor to show them the basement and leave them alone to talk.

Working together, they successfully breach the mantle. While they wait for the drill to extract the fuel, Isaac tries again to start a conversation with Burke. She asks him what he’s doing. He explains that he wants to thank her for his reactivation. He thanks her but she doesn’t respond with “You’re welcome”

Burke reveals that she was in love with Amanda and never got to tell her that.

The extraction is successful. As they leave, Burke tells the realtor they’ve broken up.

Malloy and his family are watching a sitcom when Mercer and Grayson return with Talla. They intend to take him back by force. Isaac reports they’ve acquired the fuel and will meet them at the shuttle.

Mercer informs Malloy that they’ll jump back ten years and take him home when he still wants to go, rendering his entire life with Laura and their children never to have existed..

Malloy reassures Laura and Edward that their family is stronger than time. He will always love them.

The Orville jumps back another ten years. They arrive about a month after Malloy. They retrieve him successfully.

The time device has been damaged by the most recent jump. When Mercer makes a comment about being unable to travel into the future without it, LaMarr realizes that traveling into the future can be done with the quantum drive.

They are successful.

Mercer and Grayson tell Malloy about the life they prevented him from having. He reassures them that they did the right thing. They proceed to get very drunk together.