Odo is dispatched to escort Quark to a Federation Grand Jury hearing, an eight-day journey away. Halfway to their destination, they find a bomb aboard the Runabout. They contain the explosion in a transporter beam, but the Runabout is still severely damaged. Forced to crash-land on a frozen, desolate planet, Odo and Quark learn that they have lost their communications system, their replicator, and most of their rations in the explosion. Stranded, the longtime adversaries must rely on each other to survive.