Rascals

Picard, Guinan, Ro Laren, and Keiko O'Brien are returning from the planet Marlonia when the shuttlecraft encounters an anomaly. The four are beamed safely back to the Enterprise, but when they re-materialize, they are each twelve years old. The four deal with the situation in different ways.

Picard attempts to ignore it entirely and continue as if nothing had changed, but Crusher convinces him that this is unwise; if they are unable to restore him to his proper age, he should consider taking a sabbatical from Starfleet, perhaps to pursue archaeology.

Keiko attempts to resume her normal life, but Miles feels very awkward with a little girl as his wife, and Molly doesn't recognize Keiko as her mother.

Guinan is content to enjoy being a child again, and attempts to get Ro, whose childhood was spent in a refugee camp, to have fun with her.

While the captain is thus indisposed, the Enterprise, responding to a distress call, is attacked by two Klingon Birds-of-Prey. Unable to withstand the attacks, they are soon boarded by several Ferengi, who intend to sell the Enterprise to the Romulans. The Ferengi beam most of the adults down to the surface, leaving the four de-aged members of the crew to free the ship.

Ultimately, they are able to use the transporters to return everyone to his or her rightful age.

Notes

It's a bit absurd how easily the Ferengi were able to take over the ship, to say nothing of the technobabble explanation for the transporters de-aging everyone, but the episode is surprisingly enjoyable, still.

The actors playing the young versions of the crew do a pretty good job. David Tristan Birkin, who plays the youthful Picard (and who also played René Picard in Family), doesn't manage very well, but he had the hardest job. It's much easier for us to recognize Picard's mannerisms being not-quite-right, since we see so much more of him.