Torchwood encounter an alien, Adam, who has the ability of memory manipulation. By implanting false memories into each team member, making them believe they have known him for three years, Adam's manipulation changes the team dramatically: Gwen loses all memory of Rhys, Jack is haunted by memories of his lost brother Gray, from whom he was separated as a child on the Boeshane Peninsula, Toshiko has become more confident and believes that she and Adam are in love, and Owen has been manipulated into thinking he is more or less a geek in comparison to his actual self, and madly in love with Toshiko. After reading his diary, Ianto becomes disturbed when he notices there is no mention of Adam. Adam confronts him and implants false memories into Ianto's mind, leading Ianto to believe he is a serial killer. Jack returns to find Ianto deeply upset but refuses to believe that Ianto is a killer. The pair search Torchwood's files, discovering the truth after seeing footage of Adam implanting the memories into the team. Jack discovers that the team needs to take amnesia pills, to erase their memories of the past forty-eight hours. He gathers the team and asks each person to try to recall who they really are. Each member takes their pill, Owen looking at Tosh and giving a small smile. As they fall asleep, Jack returns to the cells to find Adam disappearing as a result of the memory erasure. Adam offers Jack the last happy memory of his childhood, before he lost Gray and before his father died. Adam then appears in the memory, threatening that if he dies, Jack will never regain any other memories of his father. Adam reveals that the mysterious box contains Jack's last memories and that if Adam dies, so will they. Jack considers the option before taking the amnesia pill. Adam screams in pain, before fading away into nothingness. The next day, the team cannot recall the events of the past two days. With everything back to normal, Jack goes to his office. He finds a strange wooden box and opens it. He pours out a handful of sand, and the episode ends.
Continuity
The opening montage features the Dalek-enhanced Thompson submachine guns created for "Evolution of the Daleks" and was re-edited to include footage of Adam as a member of Torchwood.
The Boeshane Peninsula, first mentioned in "Last of the Time Lords", is depicted here.
Reference is made to the creatures who attacked Jack's family, first mentioned in "Captain Jack Harkness". Who or what they are is still unknown.
We learn that "Gray", first mentioned in "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang", is Jack's younger brother. In the earlier episode, Captain John Hart claimed to have found him.
Adam states he used to reside in The Void, the nothingness between dimensions.
The episode makes use of a newspaper cutting on the front door of the Torchwood foyer, seen previously in the Doctor Who episode Boom Town, however no reference is made to it during the episode.
Production
The song "Christiansands" by Tricky plays during the episode. In John Barrowman's autobiography, he mentions that, during filming of this episode, the kiss between Ianto and Jack continued for more than two minutes before the two of them realised that the crew had intentionally not called 'Cut' as a prank.
