Travis wakes up in prison, next to an unconscious Archer and not knowing how he got there. Travis opens the door to see two Suliban in the corridor, then walks down the corridor to find that everyone in the cells are Suliban. He returns to his cell, where Archer, now awake, asks who might have attacked their shuttle, but Travis doesn't know. Travis looks outside and sees a five-meter high wall and what appears to be a guard tower, but no one around.
He takes another walk down the corridor, this time with Archer, and they run into a Suliban prisoner who calls them the "new arrivals". An alarm goes off, prompting the Suliban to exit their cells and guards to enter the area. One of them shocks one as a punishment for dropping a cup, and a major asks Archer and Travis to follow him. They're taken to the man in charge, Colonel Grat, who explains that his species, the Tandarans, are at war with the Suliban and wrongly detained Archer and Travis due to mistaking them for disguised Suliban. He claims that he's planning on having them released soon, but doesn't have the authority to do it himself, and they can't call Enterprise, so they'll have to wait it out before appearing before a magistrate. He then tells them not to get too close with the Suliban prisoners and takes them back to their cell.
They are fed food they don't like and Archer goes to refill his cup. He meets a little Suliban girl named Narra hanging the clothes out with her dad, and talks to the dad, whose name is Danik. He tells Archer that not all Suliban are cabal or genetically-enhanced, and that Danik and Narra are normal civilians. The alarm goes off again and Klev comes in and puts Danik in isolation for being up past his curfew.
Meanwhile, Enterprise is searching for Archer and Travis. T'Pol and Trip want to talk to Archer, but Grat won't let them. He says that they're fine and that the magistrate's office will contact them on arrival. After a discussion on what the best course of action is, the crew decides to go to Tandar Prime.
At the prison, Danik tells Archer that the Suliban have been nomads for three hundred years ever since their planet has become uninhabitable, and that the ones living near the Tandarans have been all detained for the duration of the war between the Tandarans and the Cabal. Danik's friend Sajen gives him a letter saying that his wife's appeal has been rejected, then when the alarm goes off again, the Suliban leave, with Sajen telling Archer that he fears he's working for Grat. Later, in the common area, Grat speaks with Archer, wanting information on the Cabal, since he's learnt that Archer knows about them. Archer doesn't cooperate because he doesn't want to take sides, so Grat warns Archer that if he doesn't get the information he wants, he may miss the transport, and another won't won't come for sixty days.
Grat then postpones the hearing for a few days in hopes of extracting information from Archer, and informs the Enterprise of the postponing. He suggests talking to an ambassador, but by then, they have traced the signal to the prison camp, giving T'Pol other plans.
Back in the complex, Danik suggests that Archer tell Grat what he knows about Suliban, but Archer refuses, since he sees that approach as "strong-armed". He asks if anyone has tried to escape, and Danik says that three Suliban did (via a docking bay) but were killed because Grat lied that they were armed. Archer says that Enterprise is coming and will be willing to help the prisoners escape. Meanwhile, Travis tries to have a conversation with Sajen, but he behaves coldly towards him.
Archer looks over the schematics of the camp, when a communicator is beamed next to him. He contacts the Enterprise and finds out they're in orbit. Trip suggests beaming Archer and Travis out before the Tandarans find them, but Archer wants to help the Suliban escape instead. Archer tries getting the Suliban in on it, but Sajen refuses because he thinks it's hopeless and he'd be killed. Danik, however, agrees. Grat questions Archer on some unusual energy readings coming from his cell and Archer denies any knowledge, when a beat-up Travis is brought in with the communicator. Archer still refuses to talk, so he's put in isolation. Grat contacts Hoshi with Travis's communicator, threatening the Enterprise if they come near his patrol ships.
While Sajen and Travis argue, Grat hails the Enterprise and again threatens to attack, but Hoshi jams the frequencies. Trip transports Malcolm, who's disguised as a Suliban, to the prison camp, who finds and arms Travis. They meet up with Danik and go over the escape plan, then the alarm goes off again. The Tandaran patrol ships fire on Enterprise, but Enterprise manages to disable them. Trip flies off in a shuttlepod, while Malcolm makes some explosions that blow up a wall and incapacitate Major Klev and the guards. Malcolm starts leading the Suliban to freedom, while Trip uses the shuttle to destroy the guard towers and Danik is trapped in a firefight in the common room. Malcolm reaches Archer, but Grat knocks Malcolm out and yells at Archer that he's "condemned" the prisoners. Sajen goes off to save Danik, while Malcolm wakes up and bails out Archer and Travis. As they leave, Archer wonders what will happen to the Suliban.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Be as Unhelpful as Possible: Archer refuses to cooperate with Grat once he realizes the truth of the situation.
- Call-Back: Colonel Grat grills Archer about the events of "Broken Bow" and "Cold Front."
- Children Are Cruel: The Tandaran children would sing a nursery rhyme portraying the Suliban as Always Chaotic Evil.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: The Tandarans beat the crap out of Travis. They're also pretty fond of their shock-prods.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Enterprise disables the Tandaran patrol ships with one torpedo each, while taking negligible damage herself.
- Ditto Aliens: Grat's racism leads to this, since he clearly doesn't recognize that there's a Suliban there who shouldn't be. It's Malcolm Reed in disguise.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: A government at war preemptively and indefinitely "detains" everyone of the same race as their enemies, even though they've done nothing wrong, are uninvolved with with the conflict, and some of them have been loyal citizens for generations. Archer explicitly compares the situation to the US imprisoning Japanese-Americans during World War II
- Fantastic Racism: The Tandaran attitude towards the Suliban, even those who aren't with the cabal, is that they're dangerous.
- Faux Affably Evil: Colonel Grat initially seems entirely polite and apologetic about the situation, presenting himself as stymied by bureaucracy, and willing help to resolve the situation. He even seems sincere in his belief that his camp is the only way to protect the Suliban. But when Archer becomes uncooperative, he quickly shows his true colors, refusing Archer and Travis their right to a trial, and ultimately insisting that all Suliban are potential enemies who can't be trusted with freedom.
- Foreshadowing: Reed is not seen on the bridge while T'Pol gives Grat the business. Afterwards, she contacts Phlox, who is doing something we can't see and comments that he's almost done but isn't happy with the nose. Then Trip beams down something offscreen. It's Reed, disguised as a Suliban.
- Gunship Rescue: Enterprise and the second shuttlepod come in shooting.
- Mistaken for Aliens: Zigzagged — the Tandarans had Archer and Travis locked up because they mistook them for disguised Suliban. However, they aren't Suliban but they are humans, which are still an alien species from the perspective of the Tandarans.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Grat decides to keep Archer and Travis detained unless they provide information about the Suliban.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Archer decides to violate his own policy of not interfering with other cultures because of what the Tandarans are doing to the Suliban.
- Unconventional Food Usage: Discussed when Travis jokes that his and Archer's prison food would be better used as a valve sealant for Trip.
- Weird World, Weird Food: Travis isn't too impressed by what the Tandarans call a "proper meal."
- What the Hell, Hero?: Travis yells at one of the Suliban for not letting go of his Fantastic Racism towards humans.Travis: I'll admit, when I first came here it wasn't easy to see past my preconceptions about the Suliban, but I did. Why can't you?
