Matt is uneasy when Annie's oldest friend Rachel, a boy-crazy divorcee makes a pass at him during a night out in the twon with Mary. Meanwhile, Mary makes a public singing debut at a coffee house. Also, Ruthie decides to say goodbye to her imaginary friend Hoowie. Lastly, Lucy is inconsolable when her best friend, Suzanne moves away from her.

The Scoobies go up against their most horrific obstacle yet when the new principal puts Giles in charge of the Sunnydale High School talent show and forces Buffy, Xander, and Willow to participate. In the meantime, something is killing and harvesting body parts. Their prime suspect soon becomes a creepy ventriloquist dummy who may have a life of its own.

Stardate 50814.2: After finishing up a long survey mission in the Gamma Quadrant, the tired crew of the Defiant heads back towards the wormhole. On their way, Jadzia Dax spots a planet with an unusual barrier around it. With the science officer confident that taking a look a the planet would not cause any problems, the Defiant passes through the planet's atmosphere. The barrier causes damage to the ship and they have to land to make repairs. As they look around for a place to set down, they are hailed by the inhabitants of the planet, who are the great-grandchildren of the Defiant's crew. The barrier created a temporal distortion, sending them back to the past by two centuries.

After becoming the hunted prey of the vicious Horde, Xena must lead the local army against them, while Gabrielle tends to the wounded and worries that Xena is returning to her dark and dangerous ways by stooping to the Horde's level.

Neely and Mitch try to help a manic-depressive female bodybuilder. Newmie's potential romance with a beautiful woman hits a snag because she doesn't English.

Stuart Best is dubbed a hero at a fire. Murphy's probing questions lead the authorities to think he may have actually set the fire.