Voyager arrives at a planet and picks up readings that suggest the use of Alpha Quadrant technology there. They beam down Tom and Harry to investigate. Don't hear from them for hours, but their life signs seem stable, so no one panics. Meanwhile, Janeway and crew find the likely source of the Alpha Quadrant presence in orbit above the planet. It's the Ferengi ship from "False Profits." This must be where it ended up when the Barzan wormhole became unstable on both ends.
The Ferengi manage to avoid Voyager. Meanwhile, almost a day has gone by and Janeway decides they'd better beam up Tom and Harry, contact or no contact. When the two beam up, they ask why they were beamed back up to the ship mere seconds after beaming down. The planet is in a state of temporal displacement with the rest of the universe! Time on the planet proceeds at a fraction of the pace it proceeds everywhere else.
Voyager finally captures the Ferengi and learns they've created a portable, belt-secured technology that keeps them in temporal sync with the rest of the universe while beaming down to the planet. Of course, they use this technology to steal anything and everything valuable from the planet's inhabitants, who stand by like statues while it happens, due to their temporal displacement. Voyager recovers all the stolen goods from the Ferengi, but now they have to return them to their rightful owners. That could take hours on the planet and years of Voyager's time, but thanks to the temporal sync belts co-opted from the captured Ferengi, Tom is able to do it all in one night. Of course, given his cheesy sense of humor and a certain holiday that's just come around by Voyager's calender, he insists on dressing as Santa Clause, with B'Elanna as his reluctant elf.
