The United States has finally put to good use those two Goa'uld death gliders taken from Apophis' mothership ("The Serpent's Lair") after thwarting his attack on Earth two years ago. After studying the ships for that time, Area 51 personnel have created a hybrid vessel that looks like a death glider on the outside, and a jet plane on the inside. Teal'c flies a demonstration of the new X-301 interceptor at a military airfield, impressing Pentagon representative Lt. General Vidrine.

The test continues as Colonel Jack O'Neill boards the plane. He and Teal'c will demonstrate the ship's weapons capabilities, firing on target drones. General Hammond, Vidrine, Major Davis and the rest of SG-1 monitor the test from Stargate Command.

But all does not go as planned. Teal'c loses control of the ship, and the vessel climbs out of the atmosphere and races into space. The voice of Apophis himself booms out at them, telling them that he had installed a recall device in the gliders in case Teal'c ever found himself in one again. The vessel is apparently programmed to return to Apophis' home planet; it is Teal'c's punishment, doomed to die in the coldness of space. He believes that the former System Lord installed the devices in his gliders because of Teal'c's betrayal. Their ship rushes away from Earth at a million miles per hour.

Communication with the S.G.C. begins to lags for several seconds, and then for minutes as the ship gets farther away from Earth. Samantha Carter and Daniel Jackson work frantically to try and find a way to save their teammates. Carter does not want them to try and deactivate Apophis' device, believing it probably has a built-in safeguard.

Remembering that the ship is equipped with two rockets, Colonel O'Neill suggests using them to turn the ship around. Carter quickly calculates the exact timing and burn duration, in the hopes of sling-shotting the ship around Jupiter and return them home. They'll also have to override the computer's protocols to prevent the rockets from detaching. The plan is executed as the ship nears Jupiter, but a systems fault causes one of the rockets to detach and spiral out of control, coming back and striking the glider.

Teal'c and Jack survive, but the ship is damaged – and the course correction insufficient to prevent them from heading out of our solar system. What is worse, the two men now have but a day's worth of air. They shut down all nonessential systems to conserve power, as Cheyenne struggles to come up with a new plan.

Daniel contacts both the Tok'ra and the Tollan. Neither have ships available that are close enough; but there is a Tok'ra operative undercover on a nearby Goa'uld world. The Tok'ra refuse to disclose who the operative is or where he is – but Sam deduces the location, as it is the only Goa'uld-controlled world within a day's travel of Earth.

She and Daniel go through the Stargate to P2C-527, and find Jacob Carter. They convince him to abandon his mission and race to the glider's location.

Meanwhile, Jack and Teal'c have come to the unsettling conclusion that they will likely not survive the wait. They are asked to hold out for another 24 hours, but have less than 12 hours of oxygen remaining. Teal'c expresses his thanks for O'Neill's friendship, and enters a deep state of kelnorim – Jaffa meditation – to conserve oxygen.

Jacob overtaxes the hyperdrive engines of his Tok'ra scout ship, and they finally go out. Daniel, Sam and Jacob are stranded in a "very bad part of town" – two Goa'uld motherships under the control of Heru'ur close in on them. Jacob and Sam move to repair the drive, while Daniel is left with the task of keeping the Goa'uld busy. (He tells them, in Goa'uld, that he is "the Great and Powerful Oz."

He is successful, and the three of them escape seconds before death gliders sent out from the motherships attack.

All is quiet in the cockpit of the X-301, as Teal'c meditates and Jack tries to sleep. The ship continues on its course away from Earth's solar system and into deep space. On Earth, General Hammond and Major Davis can do nothing for them – only wait for Sam and Daniel to come to the rescue. Through his fatigue and oxygen deprivation, O'Neill makes occasional reports back to Earth. Hammond radios to tell them not to give up hope, but with no new information to pass on he orders Major Davis to let the men sleep.

Finally, the rescue team arrives in the scout ship. They find both Teal'c and O'Neill unconscious, and pray that they are still alive. Radio communications cannot wake either of them, so Jacob uses the ship to nudge the glider. The jolt wakes up Jack, who is delirious due to oxygen deprivation.

Carter convinces the two men to trust her, and take a very literal leap of faith. They breathe the last of their oxygen and blow the hatch, pushing off toward the Tok'ra ship above them. The ship does not have the technology to simply transport them aboard, nor is the cargo hold large enough to accommodate the X-301. But if Jack and Teal'c can get within five meters of the ship, the on-board transport rings can grab them.

The plan works, and the two are saved. They give their thanks to Jacob for his help, and radio their success back to Earth.