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 once held by his father, Dan, while Lucas Scott, also a talented player, stays an outsider. Now, Lucas' and Nathan's paths intersect for the first time, and in the middle of the crossroads stands Peyton Sawyer, Nathan's beautiful girlfriend.

Lucas blows his first Varsity game and decides to quit the team. The wedge between Nathan and Peyton continues to grow after Peyton tires of Nathan's poor treatment of Lucas. Meanwhile, Keith forces Karen to deal with her feelings for Dan after she refuses to set foot in the high school gym to support her son.

Frustrated by Lucas' growing popularity at school, Nathan searches for Lucas' weak spot. He decides to romantically pursue Lucas' friend Haley as revenge. Meanwhile, Peyton is furious with Lucas for submitting her drawings to the local newspaper without her knowledge.

Haley convinces Lucas to go with the team to a party at Nathan's beach house, hoping that the guys will become friendlier. When Lucas sees the wealth that is denied him, he finally confronts his mother about why she lets Dan ignore them. Meanwhile, when Nathan's mother, Deb Scott, returns home and tries to deal with her angry son, she turns to Karen for advice.

Lucas asks Keith to play with him in the annual `Father and Son' basketball game and realises he got the better father figure after Dan publicly humiliates Nathan on the court. Meanwhile, Peyton has a hard time dealing with the anniversary of her mother's death and finds a comforting ally in Whitey.

When Whitey throws Lucas and Nathan off the team bus for their misconduct on the basketball court, the half-brothers are left stranded 30 miles from home. They encounter a carload of punks who threaten them with a gun.