In a small North Carolina town, two estranged half-brothers carry on very different lives. Basketball prodigy Nathan Scott has inherited the throne of high school popularity, while Lucas Scott, also a talented player, stays an outsider.

Lucas blows his first varsity game and decides to quit the team; Keith forces Karen to deal with her feelings for Dan.

Nathan searches for a way to get back at Lucas when he becomes frustrated with his growing popularity; Lucas submits Peyton's drawings to the newspaper without her knowledge.

Haley convinces Lucas to go with the team to a party at Nathan's beach house; Lucas demands the truth about Dan from his mother.

Lucas asks Keith to play with him in the annual father-son basketball game; Dan humiliates Nathan on the court; Peyton marks the anniversary of her mother's death.

Whitey throws Lucas and Nathan off the bus, stranding them 50km from home; Brooke is injured during the game; tempers flare at a business function.