Still clutching a liquor bottle, Scotty visits the holodeck, where he has the computer simulate the Bridge of his old Enterprise. Unfortunately, it just isn't the same without the rest of his mates. He is about to sink into a nostalgic reverie when Picard suddenly appears in the holodeck doorway. Understanding his visitor's sense of displacement, Picard joins Scotty for a drink and a memory, and Scotty confesses to feeling old and useless. Picard feels sympathy for his guest, and later asks Geordi to accompany the old captain to survey the Jenolen in order to make him feel useful again. Geordi immediately understands, and the two transport to the Jenolen. Moments later, the Enterprise is suddenly caught by the Dyson Sphere's gravitational force and is pulled toward a star inside the sphere.

Luckily, Riker manages to maneuver the Enterprise out if its deadly spiral. However, moments later the ship is rocked by a solar flare that is raging from the star. Meanwhile, on the deck of the Jenolen, Geordi and Scotty are able to reenergize the Jenolen, only to realize that they have lost contact with the Enterprise. By following its ion trail, they realize that the ship is making the same mistake that the Jenolen did 75 years before by opening a channel in the sphere that will ultimately pull them to the sphere's center.

In order to facilitate the Enterprise's escape, Scotty suggests that the Jenolen remain a good distance from the sphere and move in at the precise moment to jam open the hatch. Though skeptical, Geordi agrees to go ahead with Scotty's plan and they are able to contact the Enterprise to tell them. The plan appears to work, until Geordi and Scotty realize that they must destroy the Jenolen to clear a big enough path for the Enterprise. They instruct Picard to fire on the smaller ship, and are able to transport to safety aboard the Enterprise just as the Jenolen explodes. Later, as a farewell gift, the crew thanks Scotty by presenting him with one of their shuttlecraft so that he can continue his adventures in the 24th century.

Data offers Scotty a drink of alcohol instead of the typical synthahol. He is unsure what type of alcohol it is, but it is "green". This is the same situation Scotty faced when getting an alien drunk in the original series episode "By Any Other Name".

When fans pointed out that there was no way for Scotty and Geordi to beam off the Jenolen when shields were up, wedging the Dyson Sphere doors open, it was later "explained" they had devised a transport "window" for the Enterprise-D to rescue them.

Factual errors: We can see curvature as the Enterprise approaches the Dyson sphere. Given the theoretical size of a Dyson sphere (roughly the size of Earth's orbit around the sun), any curvature of the sphere while the Enterprise was that close would be imperceptible.

Factual errors: In addition to the curvature problem, there are many other factual errors in episode #6.4, "Relics". The Dyson sphere's diameter is given as 200 million kilometers, which is said to be roughly the same as Earth's orbit. The diameter of Earth's orbit is closer to 300 million kilometers. The lower figure converts to roughly 124 million mi, which is less than the diameter of the orbit of Venus. The star inside the sphere is said to be type G, similar to our sun. At the given size of the sphere, trapping the total energy output of a star of that type would render the interior uninhabitable without some way to re-radiate most of that energy to space. Data's estimate of the interior surface space as 10 to the 16th square kilometers underestimates the total area by 31%. The stats (figures are rounded): Sphere diameter: 200,000,000 km (124,274,238 mi). Earth's orbit: 299,000,000 km (186,000,000 mi). Sphere's internal surface area: 16,173,009,397,494,795 sq km. Internal surface as reported by Data: 10,000,000,000,000,000 sq km. Earth surface area: 148,393,355 sq km. Ratio of sphere area to Earth area: 108,987,423 to 1.