Mulder and Scully investigate a case similar to the Bermuda Triangle only to find themselves stranded on a strange ship where time seems to be speeding up.

The episode starts when a number of Navy soldiers abandon a U.S Navy destroyer. When they are found floating in the sea 18 hours later, they are shrivelled and have aged rapidly. Mulder wants Scully to take a look at the only survivor and when she finally gains access to his room she finds that he looks "ninety" instead of the 28 which is on his chart.

With these baffling facts, Mulder believes that there may be a wrinkle in time in the middle of the Norwegian Sea orchestrated by the government trying to create wormholes on Earth.

The agents go for their annual field trip, this time to Norway and catch a ride with ship captain, Henry Trondheim who takes them to the destroyer. The ship is covered in rust, rust that could only be there after 20 or 30 years. While investigating the ship, they find mummified corpses and while doing this, Trondheim's boat speeds off stranding them on the ship. Mulder though, believes that time is speeding up.

Later, Trondheim's mate is killed and while searching the ship they find Captain Barclay, a withering old man (actually 35) who soon dies. Meanwhile, Trondheim is attacked by Olaffson, a survivor who hasn't aged like the rest.

Going to sleep, Mulder and Scully soon wake up to find that they have aged 30 years in a matter of a few hours. Scully realizes that it has something to do with free radicals, reactive chemicals that cause the body to age by attacking the DNA strand. She also adds that they may be drifting towards something beneath the sea that is acting as a trigger for their rapid aging.

It doesn't take Mulder long to formulate his own theory. He theorizes that the problem lies within the contaminated water and that the only thing that has kept Olafsson alive is the only clean water on the ship. Taking tests, Scully finds that they all have large amounts of salt in their system. Mulder is taking the worst of it though being dehydrated from his sea-sickness.

The selfish Trondheim after hearing what kept Olafsson alive, locks himself up in the sewage hold but is drowned when part of the ship is flooded with water. Meanwhile, Scully reflects on life while Mulder struggles to keep his. They both soon lose consciousness.

Later, they are rescued by Navy Seals and turn up in a hospital. The log that Scully took about the disease they were experiencing saved both their lives. The ship though, sank an hour after they were rescued. It seems that someone really is looking over Mulder and Scully.......