Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) is still haunted by dreams of her betrayal of Xena (Lucy Lawless) even though the two have reconciled. While en route to meet Xena near the Temple of Mnemosyne, Gabrielle wakes screaming from one of these nightmares. When Joxer (Ted Raimi), stumbling to the rescue, finds her crying, she explains that she's unable to shake the haunting images running through her mind. She feels she must search for an answer to end her pain and insists on going off alone to find it. Eager to protect her, Joxer secretly follows only moments after she leaves.
Gabrielle finds her way to the Temple of Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory. As she arrives, a young woman is coming out. The woman is in a daze and doesn't seem to know who or where she is. A temple guard asks Gabrielle if she is prepared to give up everything she has ever known in return for being rid of her pain. Deciding she must take the risk, she enters the temple and in doing so, immediately gives the Priestess of Mnemosyne (Jan Hellriegel) access to all her memories. The room is full of pottery bowls containing memories and answers and the Priestess has Gabrielle fill a bowl with water from a jug. The Priestess explains that Gabrielle must take a journey through the three rivers of memory, at the end of which she will have the answer she seeks and the opportunity to forget her past if she chooses. If the bowl is emptied, Gabrielle's memory will be gone forever.
After being turned away by the guards, Joxer climbs a tree in order to peer through the temple window to see what's going on inside. Two attendants are sponging Gabrielle down with water. But just as things are about to get interesting, the branch breaks, sending Joxer falling to the ground. Joxer eludes the guards and rushes into the temple where he finds Gabrielle an empty shell of her former self with no memories at all. Alarmed, Joxer rushes Gabrielle's body out of the building against the Priestess' advice. Meanwhile, the real Gabrielle has begun her journey. Wearing a flowing white robe, she reaches the first river and is surprised to find Ares (Kevin Smith) waiting for her. He tells her that this is the River of Wailing and warns her not to go in. Defiant, Gabrielle steps into the water and is immediately hit with a barrage of images of betrayals, killings and her child's birth and death. Pulling herself up onto the opposite bank, she finds herself covered in blood.
After this ordeal, Ares again tries to convince Gabrielle to go back. The next river is the frigid River of Woe. Gabrielle steps onto a thin ice bridge, but it quickly collapses and ishe falls in. Now she is beset with images of her betrayal of Xena. Meanwhile, Joxer has been trying to help "Gabrielle-Lite," the shell of Gabrielle whom he grabbed from the temple, regain her memory. He shows her her staff, her scrolls -- nothing. Finally, Joxer comes up with the idea to read her the stories she has written about her adventures with Xena, but when he gets to references about himself as clumsy and bumbling, he begins to embellish a little.
Worn out, the real Gabrielle claims to have figured out what her problem is. She's believes she's faced her past mistakes and is ready to return home, but when she tries to re-cross the River of Woe, something pulls her under and the river freezes over. Suddenly, the ice cracks and she manages to drag herself on shore, but tells Ares she's stuck -- she can't go back and she can't go forward. Ares takes her in his arms, comforts her and urges her to stay with him forever, but something about Ares begins to trigger a memory. Searching for the answer, Gabrielle jumps into the final river, the River of Fire. Immediately, she realizes that Ares is not really the god of war, but rather the personification of her own denial of a memory she has suppressed. She remembers that she had asked Ares to help her beat Xena to Chin, ostensibly in order to keep Xena from murdering Ming T'ien. She now faces the truth about her real motives: she couldn't stand being left behind by Xena and felt that their friendship meant more to her than it did to Xena. She had almost gotten Xena killed because of her own jealousy. With this realization, it is time for Gabrielle to decide whether or not to drink the water in her bowl and forget her pain forever. In the shadows, Xena, unseen in the Temple of Mnemosyne, watches the outcome closely. Meanwhile, Joxer has managed to convince Gabrielle-Lite that he is a great warrior and that she loves him. As she throws herself at him, Joxer feels guilty and confesses to his lie, just as the real Gabrielle reclaims her body. Xena arrives and tells Gabrielle that she had sensed that Gabrielle still had things to work through. Both are overjoyed that Gabrielle is finally home.
Guest Starring: Ted Raimi (Joxer), Kevin Smith (Ares), Jan Hellriegel (Mnemo Syne), Mark Webley (Guard), Lana Garland (Young Woman)
Starring: Lucy Lawless as Xena, Renee O'Connor as Gabrielle
Written by Hilary J. Bader
Directed by Charlie Haskell