Kira meets with Tekeny Ghemor, a known Cardassian dissident, hoping he will lead the opposition to the Cardassian/Dominion Alliance. Ghemor reveals he hasn't long to live, but he may still be able to help Kira's cause with a Cardassian ritual in which the dying reveal secrets to their family to use against their enemies. Since Ghemor apparently has no living relatives, he asks Kira, who the Cardassians once kidnapped and surgically altered to look like his long-lost child, to be his "daughter" one last time. When Sisko points out that this is an incredible opportunity to learn Cardassian secrets, Kira reluctantly agrees to the task, but Ghemor's imminent death rekindles painful memories of the loss of her real father.