Set in the 22nd century 100 years before the USS Enterprise's five-year mission in Star Trek: The Original Series, the series follows the adventures of the crew of the first Warp 5 capable Starfleet starship, Enterprise (registry number NX-01), as they explore the galaxy.
Enterprise has elements of a straightforward prequel to the original Star Trek series, but it also had elements of a sequel to it. In a departure from Star Trek's usual episodic writing, a long serialized storyline, referred to as the Temporal Cold War, continued through the third season. In it, forces from the future attempted to manipulate events in the present.