Then sensors detect a nebula emitting a high level of useful omicron particles,and the Captain decides to collect some and do a bit of exploring. Back in the Mess Hall, Neelix can't believe Janeway entered the nebula, but Kes speaks up for the romance of exploration until they turn to see globules spattering and attaching themselves to the ship's hull. The globules lead Janeway to order the exit of the nebula, but that takes some doing.

Meanwhile, Paris awakens Kim to join him in a new homesick-fighting Holodeck program: a duplicate of a Parisian bar near where Paris took his Starfleet training. Inside we meet several people that Paris knew in his academy days -- a pool shark named Gaunt Gary, the Gigolo, and Sandrine, the bar owner -- along with a female named Ricky, a regular in all of Paris' holoprograms. Kim joins in a pool game with Paris, who confides in him that this is his idea of home.

After sampling the globules, B'Elanna and the Doctor both agree that Voyager is actually inside a lifeform that has been wounded by the crew's actions, and interrupt Janeway's exploration of her spirit guide, a lizard, to bring the news. After re-entering the living nebula, the Doctor's suggestion of a phaser suture is used to "sew up" the damaged area.