Maques explains that he was trying to help Lwaxana, who he feels has retreated into her meta-conscious mind. He offers to help Troi search for the trauma that has damaged Lwaxana by providing a telepathic "bridges that will allow Troi to access and interpret the images in her mother's psyche and hopefully learn what caused its collapse. She reaches Lwaxana, who is standing with Hedril, a young Cairn girl who is part of the visiting delegation. The procedure then ends abruptly when Lwaxana angrily orders Troi to go away.

Realizing that the girl may hold the key to Lwaxana's problem, Troi meets with Hedril, who says she knows she makes Lwaxana sad. Troi, Beverly, Picard, and Data discuss the images Troi saw in her mother's psyche, but are unable to determine what they mean or what she may be hiding. Troi then turns to her mother's recent journal entries for answers, but is interrupted by Picard, who warns her that Lwaxana is deteriorating. Together, they look back at entries beginning the year of Lwaxana's wedding, and are shocked to discover that she deleted seven years of entries that began shortly after her marriage and ended soon after Troi's birth. Sure that this is a clue, Troi decides to enter her mother's mind again.

This time, Troi encounters Hedril a second time and chases her, but the girl suddenly vanishes. Troi ends up in the arboretum, watching her mother, her father, Hedril and herself as an infant during an outing. Lwaxana refers to Hedril as Kestra, and through their interaction, Troi realizes that this girl who she has never heard of must be her sister. Lwaxana's pain increases as Troi presses her to continue, but with her daughter's encouragement, she is finally able to reveal that Kestra died that day in an accident — an accident for which Lwaxana blames herself. Troi is able to help her mother say goodbye to Kestra and let go of her guilt. Later, after the "dream" is over, she lovingly gives her mother a picture of Kestra, baby Deanna, and her father so that Lwaxana can always remember them.