With a new commander of the SGC comes a new leader of SG-1, Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell, a former fighter pilot who flew an F-302 in the battle over Antarctica. However, he is deterred by the fact that all the other members of SG-1 are leaving for other ventures: Teal'c to manage the Jaffa Nation, Carter to Area 51 for alien R&D, and Dr. Jackson to Atlantis as an Ancient expert. Mitchell endeavors to keep the members of SG-1 for himself, but they are increasingly tough to convince.

Upon finding Merlin's testing grounds, Dr. Jackson, Teal'c, Col. Mitchell, and Vala uncover the hidden treasure including a book that tells the story of the Ancients coming to Earth from another galaxy and a strange alien device.

Daniel and Vala have used the Ancient device to inhabit the bodies of people in the Alterans' home galaxy. They have been taken by a Prior of the Ori to meet the Doci, one who speaks with the Ori, their gods. Daniel surmises that the Ori are what the Alterans who became the Ancients left behind and have ascended in a similar fashion, but without the restrictions.

Vala returns to the SGC upon having been separated from Daniel for a little under an hour. The effects of the bracelets have not diminished even though they have been removed. In order to get the effects reversed, Mitchell, Jackson, and Vala must deal with many people that Vala has used over the years to gain favors.

Vala leads SG-1 to a planet which the Priors have visited with a plan to keep them from worshiping the Ori. Once there she reveals that the symbiote that once held her ruled over this planet. She feels that keeping them in allegiance to her will hinder the spread of Origin to this world.

A Prior of the Ori has established an ever-growing forcefield on a Jaffa-controlled planet called Kalana. A minor Goa'uld named Nerus, who engineered the multiple Gate connections required for the defeat of the Replicators, comes to the SGC with information on the event and offers his help.

Following the death of a Jaffa on Earth and the disappearance of a prominent businessman, SG-1 starts an investigation into what remains of the Trust and into the actions of the Jaffa Nation. They discover that Ba'al is hiding on Earth after losing his forces to the Jaffa and that the Jaffa are secretly attempting his capture.

SG-1 investigates a planet that is said to be the home of the Warriors of Sodan, a legendary tribe of Jaffa said to have not served the Goa'uld in 5,000 years. In an encounter with the warriors, Mitchell deals a deadly blow to one of the Sodan and is captured and taken to their village. There he awaits a battle to the death as punishment for his crime.

SG-1 finds a Goa'uld-Human hybrid in stasis in an abandoned Goa'uld lab and take it back to Earth to study, where they learn it was created using Anubis' DNA.

The Ori unleash a deadly plague on Earth, prompting a powerful ally from SG-1's past to come to their aid.

The plague continues to spread among the US population and the President has quarantined the nation. Teal'c is pleading with the Jaffa High Council to reject Origin, but Gerak arrives, having been transformed by the Ori into a Prior. Cameron and Daniel seek the blood of the Prior that caused the plague in order to cure it, but have once again been captured by the Sodan.

On another planet, Mitchell is placed under arrest for the murder of a scientist.

SG-1 returns early from a mission only to realize that they and Gen. Landry aren't on the same page as far as the the mission they've just completed is concerned. The confusion is quickly resolved when the "real" SG-1 returns at the correct time. Dr. Lam examines them all and concludes that they are identical and thinks they might be clones. Sam however thinks they may have come from a parallel universe as the result of the black hole they created when they destroyed the Ori beachhead. As more SG-1 teams arrive from other alternate universes, one of them includes Dr. Fraiser and another includes the Tok'ra Martouf. It's left to Sam and Martouf to find a way to send them all home.

Leader of the Hak'tyl and their representative on the Jaffa High Council, Ka'lel has fallen in with those who work against a democratic Jaffa nation. Things worsen when she incapacitates and turns a well-spoken brother Jaffa who promoted democracy. Bra'tac comes to Hayes and SG-1 for help in finding a now missing Teal'c and uncovering the shadowy dealings in the Jaffa High Council. On Earth, Mitchell gets an old friend of his into a hospital where alien-based technology is used; hopefully, the advances they have made will be able to cure what ails him.

A contact within the Rand Protectorate comes to Earth with news that the Ori have given his people a superweapon to use against the Caledonian Federation in exchange for their conversion to Origin. SG-1 plans to turn the people from their newfound religion and destroy the superweapon.

While investigating the source of an addictive corn-like crop, SG-1 becomes involved in a firefight. They are forced to fall back to the gate, but as Daniel is dialing both the Stargate and the DHD are beamed away.

SG-1 is tasked to accompany members of the International Oversight Advisory, including Richard Woolsey, on a tour of the Gamma site. The visitors are suitably impressed but everyone is put in danger when a carnivorous insect escapes from the lab. The base is locked down and no one is allowed to travel through the gate. The bug is linked to the Ori - it's appeared on several planets that they've visited - and Daniel thinks it may be their follow-up to the virus. SG-1 and the IOA visitors take refuge in a cave, but Gen. Landrey is left with little choice but to flood the planet with a deadly neurotoxin to destroy the bugs. SG-1 looks for away out before that happens.

Sam manages to activate an Ancient device they found at the Glastonbury site and she and Mitchell are shifted into a phase that makes them invisible to everyone. Daniel soon figures out just what is going on but Dr. Lee's proposed solution sends Daniel to the same plane as Sam and Mitchell. There he is able to translate information explaining that Merlin had created a weapon against the Ori - and provides a gate address where it can be found. Meanwhile, Teal'c travels to a Jaffa planet that has sent out a distress call. The two events are related.

Using the Ancients' communication technology, Vala, who is in the Ori galaxy, contacts the SGC. She tells them that after being sucked into the wormhole she awoke in a bed in a village much like the one she and Daniel had visited when they used the communication stones. The locals think she fell from the sky - a gift from the gods - and befriends the gentle Tomin, a devout follower of the Ori who has a bad leg. Vala has two pieces of information for the SGC: first, she is pregnant though insists that she didn't have sex with anyone; and second, the Ori have been building a fleet of ships and building up its army. Meanwhile, Colonel Chekov advises General Landry that the Russians will not be renewing their working agreement with the United States and will be taking their Stargate.

Based on the information Vala gave them, SG-1 travels to the planet where Merlin may have hidden his secret weapon to defeat ascended beings. There they find an appropriately medieval village and learn that Merlin kept a library there. The locals have never been inside owing to a curse on anyone who dares enter, but SG-1 finds a way in. Once inside, they find a secret chamber that may reveal the location of the weapon. The SGC, meanwhile, has located the Ori's Supergate. Sam's attempt to get control of it is too late, and four Ori ships make their way through. In the ensuing battle, much of Earth's fleet is destroyed, and the future of several SGC members is left in doubt.