Sisko recounts to his log how he lied, cheated and bribed to bring the Romulans into the war.
Framed as a personal log Sisko dictates after the fact, the story follows his effort to draw the neutral Romulans into the Dominion War. When Garak's Cardassian contacts turn up dead before they can supply real proof of a Dominion threat to Romulus, Garak proposes forging it. Sisko, shaken by the fall of Betazed, agrees. He frees the forger Grathon Tolar from a Klingon prison, trades away restricted bio-mimetic gel for a genuine data rod, and pays Quark to forget being stabbed. Senator Vreenak inspects the faked recording, spots the forgery and leaves vowing to expose it, but his shuttle explodes on the way home.
Garak admits planting the bomb and killing Tolar, reasoning that the damaged rod will now look authentic and the Dominion will be blamed. Romulus enters the war. A sixth-season turning point, the episode asks what Sisko will sacrifice to win, and ends with him deciding he can live with it before erasing the log.