To save Zek's reforms granting rights to Ferengi women, Quark undergoes a temporary sex change and lobbies a commissioner disguised as the female Lumba.
Rom loses contact with Ferenginar, and soon Grand Nagus Zek and Quark's mother Ishka arrive on the station. Zek explains that his amendment allowing Ferengi women to wear clothing has thrown the planet into uproar, and that Brunt is about to replace him as Nagus. Quark and Rom contact all the commissioners who will vote on the matter, but only one agrees to come, and Brunt follows to sabotage the effort.
During a furious argument with Quark, Ishka has a heart attack, leaving no woman to make the case in person. Quark has Bashir temporarily change his sex and poses as a Ferengi female named Lumba, fending off the commissioner's advances while arguing that liberated women would expand the economy. Brunt tries to expose the deception, fails, and the commissioner backs Zek. The seventh-season comedy continues the long-running story of Ferengi reform begun by Ishka, and ends with Quark apologizing to the waitress he mistreated.