Jake is moping over the departure of his Dabo girlfriend Mardah, who left the station to pursue science. Sisko tells him that he'll have plenty of opportunities to find a new girlfriend at the upcoming Bajoran Gratitude Festival. Meanwhile, O'Brien and Kira are both excited for the return of their respective lovers, Keiko and Vedek Bareil. Kira and Bereil walk off arm-in-arm, but Keiko arrives flustered and with a sick Molly in tow. She's had a rough trip, but before she can explain why, our favorite Betazoid, Lwaxana Troi, emerges and apologizes for giving Molly so much candy.
Troi quickly homes in on Odo and redoubles her attempts to woo the changeling after the last time they were together. Odo is just as put off by her advances as before. She promises to find Odo once the festival begins, though she has a brief headache as she departs. For their part, the O'Briens' homecoming isn't easy either. Keiko's exhaustion doesn't mix with O'Brien's enthusiasm to make up for lost time, and the pair start arguing about their plans for the festival.
The festival begins with an opening ceremony led by Kira. It's a time to give thanks and let go of your earthly problems by writing them in a scroll and throwing them in a fire. During the ceremony, people start acting strangely. Bereil suddenly starts making eyes at Dax. After a momentary headache, Jake suddenly propositions Kira, but the bemused Bajoran turns him down. She vents about the strange episode to Bereil, but he's afflicted with his own obsession with Dax. He ditches Kira and runs off to find her.
While all this craziness is going on, the O'Briens are still squabbling. At Quark's, Keiko admits that her scientific mission will take several months longer than planned. O'Brien is upset at the thought of her being gone for seven more months. Keiko regrets telling him about it during the festival, saying that a friend on the mission advised her not to. This sparks some paranoid jealousy from O'Brien, which just makes things worse. As Odo passes by, pursued by Troi, O'Brien complains of a headache.
Bereil makes a pass at Dax, who coolly excuses herself and finds Sisko. She tells him about Bereil's infidelity and proclaims that it was a futile effort, since Sisko is obviously her true love. She starts throwing herself at him, causing the flustered commander to call for Bashir. At sick bay, Bashir states that Dax is in perfect health.
O'Brien realizes that he's been pig-headed and decides that he can't afford to lose the love of his life. He tells Keiko that he's going to hand in his letter of resignation so that he can spend more time with her and Molly. Keiko is conflicted and tells O'Brien to enjoy the festival while she thinks. Meanwhile, Kira crosses paths with Bashir. They note the strange rash of romantic obsessions spreading through the station, but before they can rush off to do something about, they throw themselves into each other's arms and lock lips.
O'Brien and Keiko make up, and she tells him that she was touched by his gesture, but he need not resign. The rest of the station is still in the grips of love fever. Bereil tries to fight Sisko for the hand of Dax, but Sisko easily blocks his punches, and then Dax knocks him down. Even Quark falls victim and starts professing his love for Keiko until O'Brien seizes him by the ear. Sisko finally steps in and proclaims that he knows who's at fault for all this craziness: Lwaxana Troi.
Bashir diagnoses her with Zanthi fever, a disease that affects "older" Betazeds and has been causing her to project her romantic feelings onto everyone around her, releasing their latent desires. He gives her a cure and assures everyone that they'll be fine in a day or two. O'Brien never actually had the disease, and he states that there's nothing "latent" about his love for Keiko. They make up, and O'Brien bids farewell to her again for another few months. As Troi leaves, she candidly tells Odo that she's aware of his feelings for Kira, and that if he ever tires of waiting, he knows where he can find her. She gives Odo a parting kiss, and he touches his lips curiously.
Tropes present in this episode:
- Abhorrent Admirer: People find themselves pursued by people they wouldn't consider for romantic involvement.
- Above the Influence: Odo, Sisko, and O'Brien. Odo and Sisko are utterly confused by the romantic shenanigans, and O'Brien doesn't really seem to notice until Quark goes after Keiko. Odo benefits from his species' Psychic Block Defense, while Sisko and O'Brien seem to be just lucky. (That, and O'Brien is that much in love with Keiko that nothing can make him go astray.)
- Action Girl: Dax delivers a four-strike combo on Bereil that knocks him on his ass when he attacks her man.
- Breather Episode: To brace for the much heavier upcoming two episodes, this episode is a comedic romp where everyone tries to bone each other. Ira Steven Behr called it "dangerously wacky."
- Call-Back:
- Mardah is mentioned to be pursuing entomology in previous episodes. This episode concludes her arc by stating that she left to complete her education.
- Keiko returns from the botany mission she started in "The House of Quark."
- Continuity Nod: Troi recalls holing Odo's liquid state in her dress in "Forsaken" and comments on Odo discovering that his people lead the Dominion, which was revealed in "The Search, Part II."
- Depending on the Writer: The franchise's erratic portrayal of the Ferengi and telepathy continues. Though they're usually said to be immune to telepathic influence, here, Quark is vulnerable to Lwaxana's illness.
- Fictional Holiday: The show takes place during the Bajoran Gratitude Festival, which sounds a bit like Thanksgiving but involves more partying.
- Just Friends: When Bereil ditches Kira to go find Dax, he thanks her for being "such a good friend."
- Living Aphrodisiac: Lwaxana Troi, though unintentionally.
- Love Is in the Air: Lwaxana's Zanthi fever caused her to project her emotions onto the people around her, the emotion in this case being sexual desire. However, Bashir points out that people are nevertheless acting on latent (if subconscious) attractions.
- Love Triangle: Lwaxana is interested in Odo. Odo is interested in Kira, as is Jake. Kira is interested in Bareil, who suddenly develops an attraction to Dax, who suddenly can't keep her hands off Sisko.
- Non-Action Guy: When Vedek Bareil wants to fight Sisko for Jadzia's love, Sisko No Sells a punch directly to his face and easily blocks all of the following punches without even fully paying attention. In fact Sisko just looks exasperated during the whole thing. And then Bareil gets Curb-Stomped by Jadzia.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Thanks to Mrs. Troi and her telepathic space flu, people all over the station start getting loopy and hitting on people they're normally not attracted to.
- Put on a Bus: Between episodes, Mardah left the station to pursue her career, never to return.
- Red Herring: Miles's headache. It seems like it's a signal that he's about to start lusting after someone like so many other characters have, but nothing happens—except, eventually, him having a great night of makeup sex with Keiko. Turns out the headache was "just a headache" (and considering his marital stress, it's perfectly understandable), and he rekindled things with his wife all on his own initiative.
- Seduction-Proof Marriage: While almost everyone else is going loopy and falling in love, Miles doesn't show even the slightest hint of attraction to any third party. As Miles says near the end when Keiko teases him for not having a latent attraction to her, "Nothing latent about it."
- Squick: In-Universe — Sisko is very disturbed when Dax starts coming on to him, most likely in part because Dax was an old man for the better part of their friendship. Surpassed only by Keiko's expression when Quark starts rubbing his ears on her.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The writers watched A Midsummer Night's Dream for inspiration, and the final product resembles the story a lot.
