An emergency transmission from a Federation science station brings the Enterprise to Ventax II. A woman with great powers claims to be the Ventaxian's mythical figure Ardra and she has returned to claim the planet and its inhabitants by a 1,000 year old contract. Picard sets out to prove that she is just a con-artist.

Marta DuBois (Ardra)
Paul Lambert (Dr. Howard Clarke)
Marcello Tubert (Acost Jared)
Thad Lamey (Devil Monster)
Tom Magee (Fek'lhr Monster)
William Glover (Marley)

• Picard critiques Data's role as Scrooge from Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" on the holodeck.
  
• Marta DuBois previously played Magnum's estranged wife on "Magnum P.I."
  
• At one point, Ardra transforms herself in to Fek'lhr, The Guardian of Gre'thor—where dishonored Klingons go after they die.