

Suffering from damage inflicted in the Romulan minefield and unable to complete repairs on their own, Archer orders a distress call to be put out. A response leads Enterprise to a repair station, which surprisingly has no crew aboard it and is run by computer. Repairs on Enterprise are carried out quite efficiently and quickly, though the price for all this is much higher than the crew could've guessed.

After Archer and Trip become curious about a visit she made to a Pennsylvania mining town called Carbon Creek, T'Pol explains to them that Vulcans actually had their first contact with humans in 1957. That year, a Vulcan ship crashed on Earth and three crew members survived, including T'Pol's great grandmother. They pose as humans in Carbon Creek and take on jobs while waiting for rescue and soon find themselves becoming more involved with the town's residents.