A human male of about 50 years of age, Carter Winston was a wealthy interstellar trader who earned a reputation for galactic philanthropy, spreading his wealth far and wide in the furtherance of many humanitarian causes. Winston was engaged to be married to a woman named Anne Nored, who became a member of the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, and still hadn't given up hope of seeing him again after his mysterious disappearance in 2264. Although Winston died on the planet Vendor at about that time, a shape-shifting Vendorian passed himself off as Winston to the crew of the Enterprise, who believed they had rescued the missing Winston until they uncovered the deception — and the Romulan plot to provoke war with the Federation to which the Vendorian had been a party. Before his death, however, the real Winston had transmitted his love of Anne Nored to the Vendorian who was to take his place, prompting the alien to switch save the Enterprise from a Romulan attack.