Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge and Ensign Ro Laren are lost in a transporter accident when returning to the Enterprise with a faulty generator from the Romulan ship.

Ro encounters the Romulan, armed with a disruptor, and leads him on a chase through the walls of the crew quarters, releasing more chronoton radiation that catches Data's interest.

Knowing that time is short before the ship will enter warp, Ro and La Forge head to their funeral—for which Data has planned a jazz funeral—and attempt to phase through objects.

Data deduces the fate of the crew members, and orders another massive flood of anyon particles, which brings Ro and La Forge back into phase.

"When LaForge and Ro end up out of phase with their timeline, they walk around witnessing normal life happening all around them, no one able to see or hear their cries for help.

[2] The fact that the characters could walk through solid objects, but not pass through the floor, has been criticized and mocked in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Wormhole X-Treme!".

[citation needed] The episode was nominated at the 44th Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Drama Series.