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Enterprise encounters a large,
otherworldly vessel unlike any the crew has seen before. They
try to make contact with it, but to no avail. Suddenly, a large
portal opens and the ship "swallows" Enterprise, rendering its
weapons and engines useless. Luckily, life support is still
operational. Archer, Trip and Reed take a shuttlepod into the
cavernous ship for further exploration. Although there doesn't
seem to be any immediate threat to Enterprise, Trip is suddenly
attacked by a colorful wisp of smoke that seems to invade his
body for a few seconds before releasing him. Back in Sickbay,
Trip insists that he's fine. He explains that during his brief
encounter with the alien wisp, he had an out-of-body experience
and believed he was in Florida and visiting an old girlfriend.
Archer is perplexed, to say the
least. He orders Trip to get the engines back online, then
discusses the situation with T'Pol. Though Archer believes that
their captors have hostile intentions, T'Pol cautions that
there's no reason to believe these mysterious aliens mean
Enterprise any harm. Suddenly, Archer and T'Pol are contacted by
a crewman who informs them that Trip is acting strangely. They
find the commander in the mess hall, devouring large amounts of
food and speaking in an odd manner. Archer deduces that Trip has
been overtaken by another being, and attempts to communicate
with it. The alien informs Archer that Trip is exploring another
realm while the alien explores humanity. Archer insists that
Trip and Enterprise be released. The alien complies, and the
giant alien vessel releases Enterprise while the alien lifeform
leaves Trip's body. A dazed Trip tells Archer that his exchange
with the alien made for some amazing experiences and that the
aliens told him that anyone on the crew was free to try a
similar exchange. Archer, however, is still skeptical, and is
determined to get Enterprise away from the area as soon as
possible. Unfortunately, engines are still down.
 As the crew works, more of them are suddenly invaded by the
strange, noncorporeal beings. Reed is overtaken and attempts to
mate with T'Pol, while Hoshi is invaded and tries to
incapacitate Dr. Phlox. As more and more crewmembers are
overtaken, Archer realizes that Enterprise cannot leave the area
until the crew is returned to normal. While Phlox works on a
solution, Mayweather is chased into the catwalk by one of the
wisps. When the wisp doesn't follow him, he realizes that the
area must contain a component that keeps the alien beings out.
Upon hearing this, Archer orders all unaffected crewmembers to
the catwalk.
Once there, Archer and T'Pol discuss options for saving the
crew. T'Pol has an idea: she wants to allow one of the aliens to
enter her body so that she can learn the intentions of the
beings. She insists that the highly-evolved Vulcan mind should
be able to resist being overtaken. Once T'Pol leaves the
catwalk, she immediately encounters one of the wisps. She is
able to resist invasion, but learns that the beings have been
lying to Archer. Their ship is deteriorating and they need
corporeal bodies in order to survive. With this in mind, Archer
hatches a plan — he will send Phlox (whose biological make-up is
incompatible with the aliens) to release carbon dioxide into
Enterprise's living quarters, rendering the affected crewmembers
unconscious. Once that happens, the aliens won't be able to
survive and will leave the crewmembers' bodies. Phlox carries
out Archer's orders, but meets an unexpected foe: Trip, who has
been overtaken once again. Luckily, Phlox manages to release the
gas, which knocks Trip out. The wisps vacate the crewmembers'
bodies and Enterprise takes off with the alien ship in pursuit.
Enterprise fires torpedoes, which detonate and destroy the
vessel for good.
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