Chakotay and Seven are stranded on a planet with a native tribe.
Chakotay and Seven of Nine take a shuttle detour on their way to a conference on the planet Ledos and strike an ancient energy barrier, crashing inside it. On the ground they find the Ventu, a people living a simple life in a forest, who take in the injured Chakotay and treat him with kindness. Chakotay learns their sign language, while Seven reluctantly lets them copy her and helps them only to stay near Chakotay.
The pair disable the barrier with the shuttle's deflector, and Voyager learns that it was built long ago by another species to shield the Ventu from the Ledosians. The Ledosians at once send in a team to study and exploit the Ventu, so Voyager works to restore the barrier, while Tom Paris, sentenced to remedial flight lessons by Ledosian officials for a piloting violation, uses daring flying to drive the Ledosians out. The seventh-season episode is a Prime Directive story about leaving a people alone.