Religious zealots seize Enterprise, intending to use it in their holy war and to punish Archer for violating a sacred sphere.
Enterprise rescues a group of Triannon pilgrims whose ship was damaged by an anomaly. Their leader, D'Jamat, believes the spheres were built by deities called the Makers, and he seizes the ship by threatening to blow it up with explosives carried by his followers, one of whom kills a crew member to prove the point.
D'Jamat plans to use Enterprise in a century-old religious war on his homeworld and orders Archer to choose a crew member to die. Archer chooses himself and is saved by a transporter trick, then works with Phlox to neutralize the zealots' explosives. After a battle with a rival faction, Archer takes D'Jamat home, where they find his planet devastated by the war. The episode was directed by Roxann Dawson and written by Manny Coto.