Under the terms of the Organian Peace Treaty, Sherman's Planet will become a colony of whoever can best develop it. To that end, the Federation intends to ship a large quantity of quadrotriticale to that planet, and Federation Undersecretary Nilz Baris is determined that the grain will arrive, so he orders the manager of Space Station K-9 to issue a distress call! Enterprise responds to discover no emergency; Baris just wants guards for his grain. And then a Klingon ship arrives, seeking shore leave. And Cyrano Jones, an itinerant trader, also arrives, with some odd animals he calls tribbles. Some very hungry, odd animals...