Assigned to help evacuate the planet Ntigano before the total failure of its sun, the crew of the Starship Enterprise are engaged in delicate negotiations with the only people who can help them: a proud and volatile neighbouring race known as the Tsorans.

To assist their efforts, Riker and Worf are assigned a different diplomatic task. As a show of friendship and good faith, they are serving as honor guards to a young Tsoran prince, accompanying him to a royal hunting preserve. There, a combination of technology-damping fields and some of the galaxy's deadliest predators are supposed to test the skills of the young Tsoran noble in the 'kaphoora' - the hunt.

When their shuttlecraft crashes inside the preserve, however, what should have been a civilised formality turns into a terrifying struggle for survival. Cut off from both Tsora and the Enterprise, without the benefit of either tricorders or phasers, Riker, Worf and their royal charge must fight for their lives with the only resources they have: spear and bat'leth - tooth and claw.