Soji dreams of being a child looking for her father. Narek suggests she talk to her mother about it.

Dr. Jurati reports that Bruce Maddox died of his wounds. She, Elron, and Picard discuss their mission to The Artifact to find Soji.

Rios is drinking and working out when Dr. Jurati approaches him, looking for comfort. They kiss and then spend the night together.

Narek and Narissa discuss Soji and her dreams in his quarters. Narek sees it as progress. He believes she is realizing on a subconscious level that she is not who she believes herself to be. He preaches patience to Narissa.

As La Sirena approaches Romulan space and The Artifact, Picard pitches an idea to arrive under the banner of diplomatic envoy. Raffi contacts an old friend in Starfleet and coerces her into issuing the papers at the cost of their friendship. With the job done, Rios helps her and her bottle of alcohol back to her quarters.

On The Artifact, Soji tells Narek that when she asked her mother about her dream, she fell asleep while talking to her. Narek informs her that the communication logs show that her nightly conversations with her mother last exactly seventy seconds every time.

In her quarters, Raffi tells Rios about her son and her future granddaughter then passes out. Rios takes her bottle with him when he leaves.

Soji calls her mother and tries desperately to stay awake but falls asleep yet again.

La Sirena arrives at The Artifact. Picard begins having flashes of his time in The Collective. The Romulans do not clear La Sirena to land. Instead, Picard is to beam in to very specific coordinates to meet with the Director of the Borg Reclamation project. Picard cautions Elnor that he is not to leave the ship.

Soji wakes up and begins scanning all her belongings to determine how old they are. None of her belongings are more than thirty-seven months old.

Picard beams onto The Artifact. While walking around the Borg alcove space, he flashes to his own assimilation and suffers some vertigo. He is grabbed and starts to fight his captors when Hugh shouts out that they are trying to keep him from falling. Coming back to himself, Picard realizes the people holding him are reclaimed Borg, not active drones. Hugh welcomes him with genuine warmth and Picard is relieved to find a friend.

Picard tells Hugh that he's looking for Soji Asha. Hugh offers to help connect them. 

Soji shares her findings with Narek and he offers to bring her to the Romulan meditation chambers to help her explore her dreams using the Zhal Makh which is usually forbidden to non-Romulans. 

Hugh takes Picard to see the XBs who survive the reclamation procedure. He tells Picard that the XBs are still victims and slaves but now, they are controlled by the Romulans. Hugh hints that it would be good if Picard could advocate for free Borg, free XBs.

Rios wakes Raffi with a cup of coffee and the news that Soji is still alive. This gets Raffi wondering why the Romulans have let her live if they were so quick to kill Dahj.

Narek brings Soji to the Zhal Makh chambers and forces the guard to let Soji through. In the chamber, he claims to care for her and offers his true name as proof. He guides Soji through the meditation exercise. She's able to share details of her memory of her childhood home including the fact it has trees and storms.

Picard and Hugh enter Soji quarters to find it in tatters. Hugh isn't able to find her signal on The Artifact because she's being shielded in the Zhal Makh chamber.

Soji finally sees past her faceless father to find herself in pieces on his workbench. Narek prompts her to look up through a skylight and she describes two red moons and an electrical storm. Narissa, who has been monitoring the exercise, uses those details to identify the planet Soji was built on.

Narek kisses Soji and tells her that she was never real. He leaves her in the chamber with a puzzle box he's been working on. As he leaves, it opens and releases a red gas that causes Soji to choke. The chamber is locked but she activates and punches her way through the wooden floor into the access tubes below. Once falling, she is detected by Hugh and he and Picard race to intercept her.

Picard calls her name when she's fallen through to the next level of the cube. He begs her to trust him. Hugh leads him to the Borg's Queen's Cell and reveals the spatial trajector, a transportation device capable of sending travellers forty thousand lightyears away. When they contact La Sirena to set a rendezvous point, Rios realizes Elnor is gone.

Three Romulans arrive on the scene but Elnor dispatches them all quickly.

Hugh gets the spatial trajector working and Picard tells Elnor to come with him. Elnor declines, choosing instead to cover their escape. Picard and Soji step through and disappear. Hugh shuts everything down and he and Elnor face the incoming Romulans together.