Set in the early years of the 22nd Century, Supernova chronicles the search and rescue patrol of a deep space medical ship and its six-member crew. When their vessel, the Nightingale 229, answers an emergency distress signal from a comet mining operation in a distant galaxy, but as they move in for a rescue, they discover that this isn't the mission of mercy they were expecting. They pick up a mysterious and menacing man with a strange alien artifact, who draws the ship into the orbit of a huge star that is due to explode into a supernova.