On leave at his father's New Orleans restaurant, Sisko has a vision that leads him to a hidden truth about his mother.
Months after the wormhole closed, Kira has been promoted to colonel and deals with a growing Pah-wraith cult and a Romulan delegation led by Senator Cretak, who quietly arms a hospital on the Bajoran moon Derna. Worf, convinced Jadzia's place in Sto-Vo-Kor must be won in battle, joins a dangerous mission with Martok, accompanied by O'Brien and Bashir.
On Earth, Sisko has withdrawn into playing piano at his father's restaurant. A vision shows him digging up the face of a woman on the planet Tyree, and Joseph reveals she was Sarah, Benjamin's real mother, who left the family when he was a baby. Her necklace mentions the Orb of the Emissary. At the end, a young woman introduces herself as the new Dax.