Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
Spike takes the Swordfish II to Earth for repairs after problems with the old craft leave him stranded. Miles, the assistant to its former owner Doohan, collects him and talks enthusiastically about baseball while the mechanic prepares to work. Doohan prefers understanding and repairing the machine to replacing its parts with whatever is newest. Elsewhere, Jet and Faye pursue pirates who disguise their operation as a delivery service. Their harpoons carry a computer virus that takes control of Faye's ship and disrupts the Bebop, leaving the crew needing a different approach before they can attempt another interception.
Once Spike rejoins them, the hunters rely on simpler communications and limit the systems the pirates can exploit. The encounter stops the fugitives, but the Swordfish loses power and becomes trapped on a course toward Earth's atmosphere. Jet cannot reach Spike safely through the debris in time. Doohan and Miles, listening on an old radio, hear the emergency and launch the mechanic's rebuilt space shuttle Columbia. Spike must hold his damaged craft at the correct angle without the instruments he would normally use, then guide it into the shuttle's cargo bay. The rescue costs the Swordfish more damage but saves its pilot. Back on Earth, a photograph of Spike, Doohan and Miles records the successful return of the people whose practical knowledge kept the old machines flying.