On a stormy night, Xena (Lucy Lawless) enters the tavern owned by her mother, Cyrene (Darien Takle). Finding the room suspiciously dark and quiet, Xena grabs someone hiding in the shadows. The lights come on, everyone yells surprise and Xena finds herself holding Joxer (Ted Raimi) by the throat. Xena discovers that she has walked into a surprise birthday party for Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor). All their friends are there: Xena's mother, Gabrielle's sister Lila (Willa O'Neill), Joxer, Minya (Alison Wall), and Autolycus (Bruce Campbell). Also at the inn is Ravenica (Natalie Duggan), a mysterious woman, who shares meaningful glances with several of the others.
When Xena informs them that Gabrielle will not arrive until the next day, everyone retires for the evening. In the middle of the night, Xena is awakened by a thunderbolt and sees someone quietly walking around outside. Suspicious, Xena bursts into Ravenica's room and finds her dead with a knife in the chest. Discord (Meighan Desmond), the newly appointed Goddess of Retribution, is also there. Discord tells Xena that she must figure out which one of her friends is the murderer and turn him or her over, or else the goddess will take someone at random.
Gathering the suspects together, Xena inspects the body more closely. They learn that Ravenica was a bounty hunter looking to collect the reward for Xena. The bounty is confirmed when Gabrielle arrives with the news soon after. Xena suspects Cyrene may have killed to protect her daughter, while Joxer is wary of Minya because Ravenica is known for laming the horses of the people she hunts. Autolycus also makes Cyrene for the crime, but when Ravenica's diamonds are found in the King of Thieves' possession, suspicion turns to him. Joxer is considered a suspect when it is learned that Ravenica was also after his brother, Jett, and Lila cannot account for her movements. Soon, everyone with the exception of Xena admit that they all saw Ravenica close to her death.
With all of Xena's friends and family having means, motive and/or opportunity, everyone becomes suspect. In addition, Discord becomes impatient and shortens the deadline to a few hours. Eventually, she declares that if the killer is not found, she will imprison everybody. When time expires, Discord and her henchmen arrive to apprehend everyone, but Xena and her friends fight back.. In the scuffle, Xena notices the way a chandelier is swinging. She tells Discord that she knows who did it. Xena explains that Ravenica was trying to injure her horse, Argo, but the horse kicked her back into the room and set off a chain of events that ended with the knife being lodged in her chest. Since she cannot seek retribution against a horse, Discord unhappily leaves the inn. With the mystery solved, everyone apologizes for suspecting each other, and Gabrielle finally gets to have her birthday party.
Guest Starring: Ted Raimi (Joxer), Meighan Desmond (Discord), Alison Wall (Minya), Willa O'Neill (Lila), Darien Takle (Cyrene), Bruce Campbell (Autolycus), Natalie Duggan (Ravenica)
Starring: Lucy Lawless as Xena, Renee O'Connor as Gabrielle
Written by Jeff Vlaming
Directed by Christopher Graves