Called to the neutral zone to help negotiate peace between the Romulans and the Federation, Picard and the crew of the Enterprise are confronted by the mysterious new Romulan Praetor Shinzon, a man who claims to be Picard's clone, and who plans to lead a Romulan attack on the Federation.

Ben Cooper goes on-line to win a house designed to make life easier. The Smart House takes on a virtual motherly identity who not only becomes overly possessive of the Coopers, but replicates herself into PAT (Personal Applied Technology), out-of-control and dangerously un-delete-able.