Harry Kim and B'Elanna Torres are trapped in a computer-generated world ruled by a sadistic clown that feeds on fear.
Voyager finds a world devastated by solar flares where a few survivors lie in stasis pods, their minds linked to a computer meant to occupy them until the surface was safe. When the crew cannot revive them, Harry Kim and B'Elanna Torres connect to the system and find themselves in a surreal carnival controlled by a menacing clown, a personification of fear created by the computer.
The clown refuses to let anyone go. Torres is released to carry its terms back to the ship, and the Doctor, immune to the clown's tricks, tries to bargain without success. Janeway finally offers herself in exchange for the hostages. The clown agrees, but the Janeway who enters is a hologram, and once the others are free the crew shuts the system down.