In this episode, during an away mission, Riker falls unconscious and awakens to discover that sixteen years have passed, and he is now captain of the Enterprise.
Commander Riker's birthday celebration is interrupted as he, Geordi La Forge, and Worf are sent down to a huge cavern on Alpha Onias III, an uninhabited Class M planet, to investigate unusual readings.
He is further startled when Tomalak — a Romulan commander who was formerly an archenemy of the Enterprise, now an ambassador — beams onto the ship to negotiate a peace treaty with the Federation.
The Enterprise computer is uncharacteristically slow, numerous systems experience minor technical glitches, and Geordi is unable to correct the problems.
Riker realizes that the entire "future" he has been experiencing is a charade and confronts Picard and Tomalak on the Enterprise bridge, with more inconsistencies arising as he does so, proving his suspicions.
The Romulans, Tomalak explains, were fooled by the intensity of Riker's memories of Minuet and had incorporated her into their fantasy on the assumption that she was real.
Riker is then able to contact the ship and learns that Worf and La Forge had beamed up without incident, but the Enterprise was unable to locate him.
[10] "Future Imperfect" was released in the United States on September 3, 2002, as part of the Star Trek: The Next Generation season four DVD box set.