Desmond convinces Hurley, Jin, and Charlie to follow him on a trek through the jungle after he receives a series of visions. Flashbacks reveal the time that Desmond spent with a cloister of monks. Meanwhile, a despondent Kate turns to Sawyer for companionship after seeing Jack and Juliet together.
The celebration of Jack’s return is cut short when he arrives at the beach with an Other, Juliet, whose flashbacks pick up from where they left off, showing us how she got onto the island and became an other. Meanwhile, Claire is threatened by a strange illness.
Some of the island survivors fear that “The Others” may have returned when Sun is greatly injured during a failed kidnapping attempt at her plant garden. Also, the trust barrier becomes very thin between Locke and Jack in terms of locking up the guns and being kept safe. Meanwhile, Sawyer is an amused but highly interested bystander when tension escalates between Jack, Locke, Kate and Ana Lucia. When Jack purposely takes Sawyer’s medication from him he pushes more in favor of helping Locke. Lastly, flashbacks reveal more of Sawyer’s con artist past.
Sayid and Desmond hit a bit of turbulence on the way to the freighter, which causes Desmond to experience some unexpected side effects.
The castaways on the raft are surprised at sea by something unexpected. Meanwhile, remaining islanders attempt to blow open the hatch, and a visitor to the encampment might be a threat to Claire’s infant son.
Claire has a horribly realistic nightmare about her new baby being harmed or kidnapped. Flashbacks reveal Claire’s backstory: the former boyfriend who got her pregnant, then abandoned her, and the psychic who convinced her to take the ill-fated flight that landed her on the island. Hurley is shocked and confused when he discovers that Ethan Rom (guest-star William Mapother), another plane crash survivor, does not appear on the flight manifest.
Two outcomes of the detonation of the hydrogen bomb are presented. Flight 815 lands safely at LAX, where Kate escapes from the marshal and Jack learns that his father’s body was lost in transit.
Jack, Kate and Sawyer fight over possession of a newly discovered locked metal briefcase which might contain insights into Kate’s mysterious past. Meanwhile, Sayid asks a reluctant Shannon to translate notes he took from the French woman. A rising tide threatens to engulf the fuselage and the entire beach encampment, and Rose and a grieving Charlie tentatively bond over Claire’s baffling kidnapping.
The survivors return to the present day after Jacob’s death; Juliet dies and Sayid is resurrected after being brought to the Others’ temple. Also, the Man in Black, who is impersonating Locke, is revealed to be the Smoke Monster and kills several of Ilana’s team from Flight 316.
This episode will shed more light on why Eko took a mysterious 40-day vow of silence, and possibly information on his stick. Also, Claire begins to lose faith in Charlie after Eko begins to question him about the Virgin Mary statue, and Kate gives the recovering Sawyer a much-needed haircut.
When the hatch suddenly takes on a life of its own, Locke is forced to enlist the help of an unlikely ally to control the matter. Meanwhile, Ana Lucia, Sayid and Charlie go off into the jungle to find out the truth about Henry Gale and see if there really is balloon craft out there in the jungle that carried him and his wife to the island.
Sun comes to the realization that she might be pregnant. She struggles on whether to tell Jin about the situation. Meanwhile, with no success from Jack or Sayid, Ana-Lucia is called in by Locke to interrogate the new prisoner Henry Gale to get more information out of him about the balloon that he and his wife supposedly landed on the island with.
After Desmond rescues Claire from drowning, Charlie gets Hurley to help him find out why Desmond has seemed able to predict the future. Desmond recalls exactly what took place in the moments after he turns the key, where he experienced a strange vision of his life prior to his Army days.
The face-off between the survivors and the freighter people continues, and the Oceanic Six find themselves closer to rescue.
After Sun is attacked, some of the survivors begin to think that one of the “other survivors” might be one of “The Others.” When French woman Danielle Rousseau leads Sayid to a mysterious captive in the jungle, he becomes determined to find out if he is one of “The Others”. Meanwhile, Sawyer discovers Hurley’s potentially devastating breach of the survivors’ trust and blackmails him into helping track an elusive island creature that won’t leave Sawyer alone.
Suspicions about a possible breach intensify after Ben is taken from the infirmary, and a reluctant Miles is forced to work with Hurley when he’s asked to deliver an important package to a top Dharma official.
Jack, Kate, and Sawyer are prisoners of the mysterious “Others.” After their captors drug them and take blood samples, they are held in separate areas. The camp leaders–Ben (Henry Gale), Mr. Friendly and a new woman, Juliet–try to make the castaways adjust to their new circumstances.
Flashbacks reveal more about Jack’s past with his father and his wife Sarah.
A determined Michael convinces Jack and several castaways to help him rescue Walt from “The Others.” With Jack away, Locke is left in charge of the hatch and must decide if he should believe Henry and not push the button, risking everyone’s safety. Meanwhile, the events that happened to Michael after he left are finally revealed. Meanwhile, Charlie struggles with Eko’s decision to discontinue building the church.
A delirious Eko wrestles with past demons; some of the castaways go to the Pearl station to find a computer they can use to locate Jack, Kate and Sawyer; Jack does not know who to trust when two of the Others are at odds with each other.
On the island, the Man in Black attempts to recruit Sawyer in his attempt to leave the island, while an impromptu funeral is held for the real Locke. In the flash sideways, Locke is fired from his job and becomes a substitute teacher.
