Captain Christopher Pike and the Enterprise are called back to active duty when first contact with a militant world goes wrong, leaving Pike's friend and first officer missing.
The Enterprise's encounter with a comet on a collision course with an inhabited world provides an opportunity for Cadet Uhura's first away mission – though she is unprepared for the fates of the away team and the planet below to rest on her shoulders.
Enterprise attempts to discover the fate of the Illyrians, a race of humanoids who genetically modified themselves. But while Captain Pike and Spock are trapped on the surface, the rest of the landing party exhibit strange symptoms.
After Enterprise finds survivors from a colony that has been attacked by the Gorn, the crew find themselves in a pitched battle with the enemy – while La'an is haunted by memories of her past tragedy.
While the crew enjoys shore leave at Starbase 1, Captain Pike negotiates with a belligerent alien species – and Spock finds himself torn between his duties and his fiancée when T'Pring comes to visit.
Captain Pike is reunited with an old flame, whose world is under threat by a neighboring colony on the eve of the ascension of its new ruler: a gifted young boy who is the target of a conspiracy.
Under the guidance of a former Federation counselor the Enterprise chases a pirate ship beyond the boundaries of Federation space, only to fall into the enemy's trap.
While searching for a cure for his daughter Dr. M'Benga finds the entire ship and crew transformed to match the world of the fairy tale he has been reading to her.
Captain Pike and a landing party attempt to rescue the crew of a Federation starship that has been downed on the surface of an icy planet – only to discover that they have been wiped out by the Gorn.
After encountering a visitor from the future, Captain Pike experiences a mission in a future where he escaped his dark fate -- and where the Enterprise comes face to face with a Romulan War Bird that has violated the Neutral Zone.
