As Captain Picard explains at the beginning of the episode, the Enterprise has come to Ligon II to negotiate a treaty to receive a vaccine from its ruler Lutan. During a tour of the vessel, Lutan becomes impressed by Lieutenant Natasha Yar, the security officer, and when he leaves, he abducts her. The Enterprise crew are wary of doing anything to insult the Ligonians or jeopardize the exchange of the vaccine, but when Captain Picard does ask for the return of Lieutenant Yar, Lutan refuses, explaining that he loves Yar and wants her to become his "first one." Lutan's wife Yareena takes offense at this and challenges Yar to "a struggle to the death," which is the primary concern during the second half of the episode.
The names Yar and Yareena resemble each other, drawing attention to the somewhat parallel positions of the two women in the same way that the plot has narrowed its focus to the conflict between them. There's a significant difference, however, in that Yareena seems to be a diminutive form of Yar (using something like the Italian suffix -ina, audibly, if not orthographically). This indicates an inequality between the two. In a meeting with Yareena prior to the fight, Yar tells her that "there is no physical training anywhere that matches Starfleet, especially its security people," and she eventually does best Yareena in combat.
