Ren invites Kim and Paris for dinner at his home, where Ren's dog continually barks at them: they are assured that he always barks at strangers. Ren's wife, a much younger woman named Lidell, seems bothered to prepare dinner and the two don't feel very welcome. But Paris is attracted to her and ultimately is blamed for her husband's brutal murder that night. His Banean sentence: to relive the violent moment of the crime from the victim's perspective for the rest of his life. The judgment is accomplished by a Doctor implanting memory engrams from the victim's mind into thatof the criminal.

Because of the differences in humans and Baneans, Paris' brain can't accept the implanted engrams and will eventually be destroyed. Janeway and Tuvok return to the Banean homeworld to find a solution. Voyager is then attacked by the Numiri.

When Tuvok mind-melds with Paris, he discovers that Ren was murdered by a shorter man and symbols and numbers were also implanted in Paris' brain. Through a clever setup the Numiri are twice shown to be after Paris. Tuvok deduces the numbers and symbols in Paris' brain are military information, which had been placed there by the traitorous Doctor when the punishment engrams were imbedded.

The Doctor who implanted the engrams is also Lidell's lover and the right height, denies knowing anything -- until Leeka the dog is brought in and doesn't bark, because it knows him.