Plot summary
The Enterprise is scheduled to assist with a trial run of soliton wave technology, which has the potential to allow vessels to travel at warp speed even if they are not equipped with warp drive engines. Worf receives a message from Helena Rozhenko, his human foster mother, who requests to visit and bring his son Alexander. He is surprised to learn that Helena intends to leave Alexander with him on the Enterprise; she and her husband Sergey are having too much trouble caring for the boy in their old age, and she feels that he needs to be raised by his father.
Soon after Alexander is enrolled in the ship's school, his teacher voices concerns to Worf about his behavior, such as lying, bullying other students, and taking their toys. Tensions between father and son rise after Alexander refuses to admit stealing a model during a class field trip and Worf finds it in his pocket. Worf decides to send Alexander away to a Klingon school, but Counselor Troi persuades him to reconsider, pointing out that Alexander may be acting on feelings of abandonment since his mother is dead and he has been in the care of the Rozhenkos instead of his father.
A distortion during the soliton wave experiment damages the Enterprise and destroys the test ship. The wave is on a collision course with a colony on Lemma II, and is growing in power and speed so quickly that its impact will destroy most of the planet. La Forge recommends that the Enterprise pull ahead of the wave and fire photon torpedoes to dissipate it, but before it can do so, a fire breaks out in a laboratory where Alexander has sneaked in. Worf and Riker find him pinned under debris and rescue him just in time for the Enterprise to fire the torpedoes and prevent the colony from being destroyed.
Dr. Crusher diagnoses Alexander with smoke inhalation and a broken leg and assures Worf he will be fully recovered after an overnight stay in Sickbay. Worf softens his attitude toward Alexander and invites him to stay on the Enterprise, saying that it will be an even greater challenge for both of them than the Klingon school. Alexander accepts the offer as a way of honoring his mother's memory.
Credits
Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, New Ground (Star Trek: The Next Generation). Paragraphs and formatting adjusted; illustrations, reference markers, block quotations and non-story material omitted.