Plot

Data is sent to follow a probe that has drifted off course and crashed on a primitive planet, only to crash on the planet himself, with no memory of any event prior to crashing on the planet's surface.

During a mission to repair a probe which crashed on a planet with a Renaissance culture, an explosion damages Data bad enough to cause amnesia. He is taken in by villager Garvin and his daughter, while an arrogant teacher who puts him in her class. Before she's convinced of Data's scientific superiority by experiments, the nuclear material he carried has caused radiation sickness. Meanwhile Deanna decides to take her bridge officer exams, supervised by Riker, but keeps failing the engineering emergency test - or is it really something else?—KGF Vissers & Leighta Greenleaf

During a mission to repair a radioactive probe which crashed on a planet Barkon IV with a Renaissance culture, an explosion damages Data bad enough to cause amnesia. The Enterprise had left to provide medical supplies to a nearby star system and was supposed to return in a few days to pick Data back. After the explosion, Data stumbles into the Barkoran village without any memory and holding the radioactive container on him. He doesn't even have basic language skills.

He is taken in by villager Garvin (Michael Rothhaar) and his daughter Gia (Kimberly Cullum). Talar (Ronnie Claire Edwards) is the village doctor and concludes that Data is an Iceman, which explains his skin color (due to prolonged lack of exposure to the sun because of living in the mountains), but other than that she can't find anything wrong with him. Talar is a big proponent of the scientific and evidence based deduction process. Data (called Jayden by Gia) and Garvin get the radioactive material analyzed by the local blacksmith. It was taken out of the container by Garvin since neither of them knew what "radioactive" meant. Skoran (Mike Hagerty), who buys half the lot from them to make jewelry & Data retains the other half in case it provides any clues to his identity. Unknowingly radiation is spreading in their environment.

Data attends Gia's class with her and corrects her teacher Talar (when she claims that fire is an element), by saying that she is quoting findings from cursory observations as scientific fact, without any proper evidence. Before she's convinced of Data's scientific superiority by experiments, the nuclear material he carried has caused radiation sickness. Gia is showing signs of sickness as well. Data traces the origin to the metal that he brought with him. He creates his own laboratory, creates a microscope by improving upon existing basic designs, and starts to eliminate the possible causes of the illness one by one. He observes that the illness causes extensive cellular damage. He convinces Talar with his empirical data and then asks her to gather all piece of the metal he brought into the container. He says that everyone wearing jewelry made by Skoran, built from the material he sold, is causing the illness. He also determines that the metal in the container stop radioactive rays from escaping.

But Skoran is angry at Data and deems him responsible for the illness spreading in the village. Skoran attacks Data and tears off his skin, exposing him to be a creature of some sort. Data hides and continues his work and finds a formula that stops radiation poisoning and cures the ill. He administers it to Gia and Garvin and since the villagers wont trust him, he decides to mix the formula in the town's water supply. Skoran kills Data with a spike, but not before Data mixes the formula in the well. A few days later Riker and Beverly come looking for Data. They meet Gia who shows them where Data and the metal fragments are. Riker and Beverly take them back to the ship and repair Data.

Meanwhile Deanna decides to take her bridge officer exam. She is motivated for the same when she sees Beverly commanding the ship during some night shifts and sees how fulfilling it is for her. Beverly put in the extra work to earn the rank of a Commander, even though this rank was not required for her to be the Chief Medical Officer of a star ship. Beverly says that she wanted to stretch herself. She is supervised by Riker but keeps failing the engineering emergency test. Riker won't tell her what she is doing wrong but keeps on increasing the difficulty level on the test. She already has failed 3 times, and Riker says that maybe Deanna is not meant to be a bridge officer.

Deanna realizes her mistake when Riker says, "My first duty is to the ship". The key was to be able to sacrifice people but protect the ship. She aces the test. Riker makes her a bridge officer.