The Enterprise collides with a black hole and is thrown back to Earth in the 20th century, where they must find a way back and erase any trace of their presence. Matters become complicated when they rescue an Air Force pilot and cannot return him without changing history... but if he disappears that will change history as well.
An unusually tense and irritable Kirk orders his ship into the Romulan Neutral Zone, where it is promptly surrounded. Beamed to a Romulan ship, Kirk lies about the intrusion, then attacks Spock, who responds with a Vulcan death grip. While the female Romulan commander courts Spock, a secret mission unfolds.