When Xena experiences sharp pains in her stomach, Gabrielle takes her to see a midwife. As the midwife examines her, a baby skeleton tears out of Xena's belly. Horrified, Xena screams and loses consciousness. Gabrielle calls out to Xena and she wakes up & it was only a nightmare. The midwife tells Xena that she needs bed rest, but Xena is convinced that someone is trying to kill her baby. She tells Gabrielle and Amarice that they are going to see Yakut, a shamaness and leader of the Northern Amazons. Upon their arrival at the village, Yakut performs a ritual and tells Xena that her child is being drained of its life force in the spiritual realm by Alti, the evil shamaness Xena killed. Gabrielle knows that Xena can't fight Alti in her condition in the spiritual world, so she convinces Xena to send her instead. Xena hands Gabrielle the dagger she will need to kill Alti and tells her not to let go of it no matter what. The two perform an elaborate ceremony and Gabrielle falls into a trance. Alti greets Gabrielle with a fierce blow that knocks the dagger out of her hand. The shamaness turns the knife into a dove that flies away. In the real world, Xena sees the dagger disappear from Gabrielle's hands and desperately tries to wake her, but can't. Gabrielle wounds Alti just before Xena pulls her back into the real world. When Gabrielle tells Xena that Alti said she needs the baby to be born, Xena realizes that Alti is trying to reenter the world by taking away her baby's soul and replacing it with her own. Xena figures the only way to stop Alti is to perform the burial ritual for restless souls. She sends Gabrielle and Amarice to the Scherian Caverns to retrieve a special amber that, when placed on Alti's remains, will trap her soul when it hardens. Xena and Yakut leave to recover Alti's bones, but when they find them, the skull is missing. Yakut tells Xena that she took the skull because she thought she could harness Alti's power and use it for good. But now Yakut knows that she's responsible for Alti's return. Later that night, Yakut puts herself in a trance and enters Alti's realm. Xena wakes up and sees that Yakut is unconscious. She enters Alti's dreamscape and Alti punches Xena in the back and retracts a glowing orb. As Xena and Yakut awake from their trances, Alti tells Xena that she will give her child's soul back if she is brought back into the physical world. Meanwhile, Gabrielle and Amarice enter the caverns and are greeted by Chi'Ah, an Amazon mystic who guards the amber. But Chi'Ah reveals that Amarice is not really an Amazon and will not let her pass. Gabrielle retrieves the amber and she and Amarice return to Yakut's camp. Determined to retrieve the child's soul, the Amazons perform an elaborate ceremony and Xena brings Alti out of her realm. But in actuality, Xena has tricked Alti. She merely transferred her from one dreamscape to another, which has weakened her powers. Alti, in skeletal from, attacks Xena with a vengeance. Xena steps out of her skin and the two skeletal forms go head to head. In the real world, Gabrielle sees that Xena has the upper hand and pours the amber on Alti's bones, which causes Alti to freeze in place in the spiritual world. Xena takes her sword and slices Alti right down the middle, causing the bones to explode. Xena returns to the real world with her child's soul perfectly safe... at least for the time being. DISCLAIMER Xena and Alti were Bad To The Bone during the production of this motion picture.