برايان غرينبرغ

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.

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.

Lucas faces a difficult decision when he finds out that Brooke is pregnant. Meanwhile, Haley considers sex with Nathan, Keith wants more from his relationship with Karen, and Dan tries to get runaway Nathan to return home.

Lucas and Peyton try to redefine their friendship after Lucas chooses to be with her best friend, Brooke, who is unaware that Lucas and Peyton briefly dated. Dan invites Deb to a getaway weekend, but she suggests he devote the time to Nathan. However, Dan and Nathan's father/son weekend ends abruptly when, after Dan's constant criticism, Nathan publicly reveals his drug use and rebukes his father.

Unable to cope with the pressure from Dan, Nathan quits the basketball team. Although Haley fears that Nathan will not need her emotional support as much now, he relies even more heavily on her. Meanwhile, Brooke becomes increasingly jealous of Lucas and Peyton's growing friendship.

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.