Delenn (Mira Furlan) and Lennier (Bill Mumy) approach Commander Sinclair (Michael O’Hare) and Garibaldi (Jerry Doyle) at dinner in the Zocalo. Delenn wonders why Sinclair is not in Customs to greet a distinguished visitor arriving soon. He is surprised but agrees to meet the visitor with Garibaldi and an honor guard. In Downbelow, a man named Jinxo (Tom Booker) is approached by Deuce (William Sanderson) who wants his money. He shows Jinxo a woman named Mirriam Runnigdear) (Linda Lodge) bound nearby. She is supposed to testify soon. A tentacle comes out of the shadows, touches her forehead, and her mind is wiped clean. The tentacle returns to a Vorlon encounter suit and Deuce introduces Ambassador Kosh.
Ombudsman Wellington (Jim Norton) presides over a courtroom, dealing with a suit between a human named Finn (John Finn) and a Vree. In Customs, a man named Aldul Gajic (the ubiquitous David Warner) disembarks from his ship. Delenn and Lennier are excited to meet a true seeker, but Sinclair is amused when the man says he is looking for the Holy Grail. The Commander leaves and Garibaldi shows the visitor to the currency exchange. Sinclair explains to Delenn that the Grail is a myth. Delenn says that Sinclair himself is a true seeker. Gajic, using an ATM, has his pocket picked by Jinxo, but Garibaldi arrests the pickpocket, and the visitor has to accompany them to court.
Doctor Franklin (Richard Biggs) calls Sinclair to Medlab and shows him Runningdear with extensive brain damage. Garibaldi arrives and wants to clean out Downbelow because this is the third such mind wipe. He knows Runningdear was to testify against Deuce. Ombudsman Wellington expels pickpocket Jinxo from the station for five years. Jinxo says he cannot leave the station. Gajic offers to take Jinxo into his personal custody. To which Wellington agrees. Then he has to dismiss the case against Deuce as the only witness is brain damaged. Jinxo tells Gajic that the station will explode of he leaves because he is cursed, and warns Gajic that Deuce is coming for him.
Jinxo worked on all five of the Babylon stations. The first three were destroyed while he was on leave. As soon as he left Babylon Four, it folded up and disappeared as his ship was pulling away. Thus, it must all be his fault, which is why he is called Jinxo. Garibaldi fumes over Deuce getting away. Doctor Franklin and Ivanova (Claudia Christian) believe the mind wipes are because of a na’ka’leen feeder, a creature kept under Centauri quarantine. Sinclair seeks out Ambassador Mollari (Peter Jurasik) in the casino. He knows of the creatures and is terrified. He promises to send Sinclair all the relevant files and leaves immediately.
Gajic meets with Delenn and Lennier to discuss the Grail. They promise to inform him if they should find it. In Downbelow, Deuce meets with the faux Kosh, who wants more food. He tells one of his goons to bring him Jinxo and Wellington. Sinclair, Ivanova, and Garibaldi study Mollari’s data. Doctor Franklin is sure the damage was caused by a feeder. Mollari has found that the feeder’s quarantine was cancelled by Centauri bureaucrats to save money. He then tells Gajic that he has done research on the Grail and there is no knowledge of it in the Centauri Republic.
Gajic was an accountant on Mars until an accident killed his wife and children. He was wracked with guilt until he met a Grail Seeker who died, and he took over the man’s quest. Wellington is kidnapped. Deuce’s thugs attack Jinxo, but Gajic fights them off. They go to the Alien Sector to meet the real Kosh. Jinxo panics at the sight of his encounter suit and flees to Downbelow. He explains and Gajic insists he come forward with information on the mind-wipes. Jinxo escapes, but Gajic is captured by Deuce’s thugs.
Garibaldi alerts Sinclair to Wellington’s kidnapping. Gajic is brought to Downbelow, shown Wellington, and the faux Kosh approaches. Gajic bravely defies the tentacle-creature. Before the thing can mind-wipe him, Garibaldi, Sinclair, Jinxo, and a Security team storm the location. In the firefight, Gajic is mortally wounded shielding Jinxo. The feeder is killed. Before Gajic dies, he requests Sinclair to witness as he bequeaths his quest to Jinxo. Later, Sinclair meets with Kosh in his quarters, explaining how Deuce was able to get a fake encounter suit. It pleases Kosh that some find him frightening. Delenn and Sinclair see the departure of Gajic’s body. Jinxo is leaving on his quest, now called Thomas because he can no longer be a jinx. The C & C staff hold their breath as the ship enters the jump gate.
Gajic was named after Mira Furlan’s husband Serbian director Goran Gajic. The arriving ship is called the Von Braun. The mind-wipe tentacle was used in the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as both shows had the same makeup company. It resembles the tentacles of the alien invaders in Independence Day. In the courtroom scene at the beginning, the great grandson of a human abductee is suing a Vree. When the camera goes to the Vree, it is a Gray of flying saucer fame. In the denouement, the ship on which Jinxo leaves, happy that he is no longer a jinx, is the Marie Celeste. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the original mystery story about the ship found abandoned and adrift in the Atlantic in 1872. Some of the details in the story were changed from the real incident on which it was based, just to make it more mysterious, but still none of the crew ever turned up. According to the Doctor Who canon, the crew abandoned ship because it was boarded by Daleks.