Stardate 8454.1: In the windswept desert of Nimbus III, the Planet of Galactic Peace, a lone settler witnesses a man materializing out of the dusty horizon, offering to share and bear the settler's pain. With a laugh, the two join forces and plan to steal a starship. Cutting to the rock and scrub of another desert, the jeans-clad Captain Kirk is climbing bare-handed in Yosemite. After a near-accident followed by a night of beans and whiskey and campfire songs, Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and McCoy (DeForest Kelley) are called back from shore leave to the new Enterprise for an emergency mission. Counting on Scotty (James Doohan) to bring the new ship up to specs, they travel to Paradise City on Nimbus III, where delegates from the Romulan, Klingon, and Human races have been kidnapped. The crew soon find themselves joining kidnapper Sybok (Laurence Luckenbill), a renegade Vulcan desperate to discover the secret that lies beyond the Great Barrier at the center of the galaxy. A thrilling and thought-provoking directorial debut from William Shatner, the journey becomes a metaphysical quest for the meaning of life, as the crew of the Starship Enterprise comes face to face with "God."