Nathan's father, Dan (series star PAUL JOHANSSON), and Lucas' mother, Karen Roe (series star MOIRA KELLY), were high school sweethearts. When Karen became pregnant during their senior year, she was devastated by Dan's decision to go to college on a basketball scholarship, leaving Karen behind to raise their son, Lucas, alone. When Dan's dream of a basketball career didn't work out, he returned to town with the wife he met in college and his new son, Nathan. Now a wealthy businessman, Dan lives his basketball dreams through Nathan. While Karen raised Lucas without a father, she remained friends with Dan's older brother, Keith (series star CRAIG SHEFFER), who has served as Lucas' surrogate father. It is Keith who persuades the grizzled high school basketball coach, Whitey Durham (series star BARRY CORBIN), to invite Lucas to join the team, sparking a conflict with Nathan. At the same time, Dan and Keith clash over Dan's disowning of Lucas. Nathan challenges Lucas to a nighttime one-on-one basketball game. If Nathan wins, Lucas must not join the team; if Lucas wins, Nathan will quit. During the game, the players are almost equally skilled, but Nathan's cockiness costs him a few early points, and Lucas triumphs. He then reveals to Peyton that he changed his end of the bargain--Lucas bet that if he won, Nathan would not be allowed to quit the team. The two estranged half-brothers are now teammates.

After failing in his first varsity basketball game, Lucas decides to quit the team. Meanwhile, Nathan and Peyton's faltering relationship continues to weaken as Peyton tires of Nathan's poor treatment of Lucas. And Keith forces Karen to deal with her resentment towards Dan after she refuses to attend Lucas' games.

After a particularly spectacular basketball game, Lucas quickly supplants Nathan as the team's most popular player. Sexy cheerleader Brooke immediately sets her romantic sights on the new star athlete. Frustrated by Lucas' success--and goaded on by Dan--Nathan rallies his teammates and begins a hazing campaign against Lucas, including trashing the outdoor court where Lucas practices.

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 (recurring guest star BARBARA ALYN WOODS), 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 realizes 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 ejects Lucas and Nathan from the team bus due to their misconduct on the basketball court, the half-brothers are stranded 30 miles from home. They encounter a carload of punks who threaten them with a gun. Injured during the game, Brooke needs Peyton to drive her home and, in an unlikely turn of events, Peyton asks Haley for help. Meanwhile, Karen and Keith attend a business function, and tempers flare when Nathan's mother, Deb (recurring guest star BARBARA ALYN WOODS), is seated at their table with Dan.

The night of Dan and Deb's (recurring guest star BARBARA ALYN WOODS) annual basketball appreciation party spurs old memories and new feelings. Karen makes a new friend, Keith confronts Dan again, and Lucas finally makes his romantic intentions clear to Peyton. Meanwhile, Haley and Nathan grow closer until Brooke spreads a vicious rumor that devastates Haley.

Hoping to have fun, Brooke and Peyton attend a college party, but the situation gets bad when one of the guys, Gabe (MIKE ERWIN - "Everwood"), drugs Peyton. After Brooke calls Lucas for help, the friends bond while caring for the sleeping Peyton, prompting Lucas to gain a new appreciation for Brooke. Meanwhile, Haley gives Nathan another chance, and the two go on their first date.

After fighting with his father and Haley, Nathan succumbs to the pressure and takes amphetamines to help him play basketball better. However, he isn't prepared for the destruction the drugs do to both his body and his family. Meanwhile, Peyton intends to rekindle her relationship with Lucas, but when she arrives at his house, she witnesses him with Brooke.