Burnham and Book try to free prisoners on an asteroid belt doomed by the anomaly, with a hard choice ahead for one of them.
The anomaly vanishes and reappears 1,000 light-years away seconds later, which proves it is not a natural phenomenon. The brilliant, arrogant scientist Ruon Tarka joins the investigation, and his model of the anomaly needs more power than Discovery can supply.
The anomaly's new path threatens the Radvek asteroid belt, and its magistrate refuses to release a group of prisoners called the Examples. Burnham and Book free them and offer asylum aboard Discovery. One prisoner, Felix, confesses that he killed a man while stealing a family heirloom and chooses to stay; Burnham respects his wish and he dies when the belt is destroyed. Burnham later returns the heirloom to the dead man's daughter. Kyle Jarrow wrote the episode.