So far there's nothing ground breaking or earth-shaking about Picard; the plot makes use of some well-worn tropes: dreams of portent, the bitter and disillusioned former hero who finds a cause worth fighting for, and a Manchurian Candidate-type character who doesn't know who she really is or what she can do until she's "activated". But if these tropes are well-used, they're also well done in this episode, which manages to strike a pretty good balance of referencing the past without wallowing in it.
We find elderly Picard living on the family estate in France with a couple of Romulan housekeepers and his dog, Number One. It's rather fitting that he's named his dog what he used to call Commander Riker, his former first officer because frankly, Riker always was a bit of a dog. Of the two, so far I prefer canine Number One. As the episode progresses, we discover that Picard quit Star Fleet years before in protest of the decision to withdraw aid from the Romulans, who were forced to abandon their home worlds after their sun was destroyed by a supernova. Picard had been heading up Star Fleet's relocation efforts when Earth's Mars colonies are attacked and destroyed by synthetics (androids) resulting in the deaths of over 90,000 people. This results in a Federation-wide ban on synthetics and also causes Star Fleet to abandon Romulan relief efforts during the resulting chaos, apparently feeling that, while in a weakened and vulnerable state, it is no time to be giving succour to their enemies. Picard disagrees with this decision strongly enough to resign his commission over it. I guess he is only in favour of letting planets full of people perish when they aren't as advanced as the Romulans (hello, Pen Pals).
We then meet the "twin"- Soji- who is working with Romulan survivors who appear to be inhabiting an abandoned Borg cube, of all things. She seems to have more awareness of her origins than Dahj did.
This is a very brief overview of the main plot points: of course other things happen and other characters appear. I'd say that, as first episodes of Star Trek go, this one was really good (many were not). It sets up the world, introduces the main characters, and sets in motion some intriguing plot lines. And so far- fingers crossed- it's not preachy. Patrick Stewart may be an virtue-signalling annoyance, but there's no doubt he's a skilled actor and he makes us believe that he's a retired, crotchety old Picard. The actress playing Dahj/Soji does a fine job as well, which is important considering the considerable screen time she gets.
This isn't to say that there were no flaws in the episode, and I'll get into those- and my overall impressions- in part II.