Stardate: 42523.7 Upon visiting the new Starbase 173, Data is reassigned to the command of an officer who wants to study and disassemble Data, to aid in his research into making more androids.

At the same time, Capt. Picard is reunited with an old romantic acquaintance, Phillipa Louvois, who also happens to be the lone person on the station who can save Data from this deadly fate. However, can Phillipa, the station’s JAG officer (the Judge Advocate General), put aside her conflicted feelings for Picard, and impartially decide Data’s fate?