Captain Spock has left Starfleet to become Ambassador Spock, and has been bonded in a Vulcan engagement ceremony to the beautiful Commander Saavik. A call from an old enemy, now a friend, sends him off on a dangerous mission to the planet Romulus, where society is facing collapse unless Spock and Saavik can put aside their mating drives long enough to warn the Klingons of a sneak attack on the outpost at Narrendra III. Meanwhile, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S.S. Stargazer is sent to recover Spock and Saavik. But is his out to aid them, or to stop them from completing a mission which has put the peace of the galaxy at risk?