Kira and O'Brien rescue Bajoran hero Li Nalas, who is not who the legend says.
Quark gives Kira an earring belonging to Li Nalas, a resistance hero long thought dead, and Kira and O'Brien slip into a Cardassian labour camp on Cardassia IV to free him and other Bajoran prisoners. Sisko approves the mission after the station is marked with the symbol of the Circle, a militant group that wants all outsiders off Bajor, and he hopes Li can unite the planet.
Li is greeted as a hero but tries to run away, admitting to Sisko that his fame grew out of a chance killing of an unarmed Cardassian that was later turned into legend. Sisko persuades him to stay. Minister Jaro Essa then gives Li a new title and makes him Bajoran liaison to the station, replacing Kira, who is ordered back to Bajor. The episode opens a three-part story.