In this episode, ambassador K'Ehleyr returns to the Enterprise to advise Captain Picard, who has been chosen as a neutral party to arbitrate the selection of the new Klingon leader from two candidates, Gowron and Duras, one of whom is suspected to be a traitor.
The starship Enterprise is met by a Klingon Vor'cha class battlecruiser, and Ambassador K'Ehleyr (Suzie Plakson) requests to speak to Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) on an "urgent matter".
K'Ehleyr warns the senior staff of a power struggle occurring within the Klingon Empire and implores Picard to meet Chancellor K'mpec (Charles Cooper) aboard the battlecruiser.
On the Klingon ship, K'mpec reveals that he has been poisoned and is slowly dying, and insists that Picard become the Arbiter of Succession and identify his assassin.
The rites begin with Picard, Duras, Gowron, and K'Ehleyr confirming that K'mpec has died, but a bomb detonates in the assembly hall, resulting in the deaths of two unnamed Klingons.
Picard decides to draw out the Rites using an archaic ceremony to give the Enterprise crew time to complete a forensic analysis on the dead Klingons.
Due to Picard's refusal to explain the circumstances of Worf's discommendation, K'Ehleyr begins her own investigation and discovers that Duras's father was the true traitor in the Khitomer massacre.
This episode introduced a Klingon spacecraft to the Star Trek franchise, the "Vor'cha", which was designed by Rick Sternbach; the model was built by Greg Jein.
[7] In 2017, Comic Book Resources ranked Worf and K'Ehleyr as the ninth best romantic relationship of the Star Trek franchise up to that time, noting their introduction in the previous episode "The Emissary".