Enterprise (crew + technology) versus Mintakan society: inadvertent contact and the resulting mythmaking produce social upheaval — the crew must contain, demystify, and repair the cultural damage their observation caused.

Oji returns from reconnaissance to find her father, Liko, inexplicably rematerialized at the duck blind. His previously grievous wounds are gone; he describes awakening 'brought back to life' in a …

In a charged, rain-lashed assembly, Liko demands divine proof and aims a crossbow at Troi; Picard enters and refuses the mantle of 'Overseer,' insisting he is a mortal man. When …

Picard unmasks the camouflaged observation post, confronting the Mintakans with the truth of the Federation presence. He calmly explains the Prime Directive and why the observers hid, accepts that the …