O'Brien is asked to play the role of a village's spiritual protector.
O'Brien and Bashir go to a Bajoran village where the dying spiritual leader, the Sirah, protects the people from a menacing force called the Dal'Rok. After the Sirah whispers his story to O'Brien, the villagers declare O'Brien his successor. The Sirah's jealous apprentice Hovath reveals that the Dal'Rok is created with an Orb fragment to unite the villagers, and when O'Brien's storytelling fails, Hovath steps up and becomes the new Sirah.
On the station, Sisko mediates a border dispute between two Bajoran factions, one led by the teenage Tetrarch Varis Sul. Jake and Nog befriend her, and after a prank aimed at Odo she warms to Sisko and agrees to compromise.