Kate desperately tries to protect Sawyer from being killed by The Others. But at the same time, The Others plan to use her as a pawn on Jack to get him to perform surgery on Ben.
Sawyer and Kate struggle to escape the island while Jack sabotages Ben's surgery, and Juliet's plan to make a deal with Jack to kill Ben on the operating table is exposed.
After Desmond saves Claire from drowning, Charlie and Hurley suspect that he can see the future. So they try to get him drunk to get some answers out of him.
Sawyer, Kate, and Karl reach their Island at night, and a reluctant Kate wishes to return for Jack. Meanwhile, Jack is interrogated by "Others" constable, Isabel about the incident with Juliet. When she mentions the meaning of his tattoo, he recalls his vacation in the paradisaical island of Phuket, in Thailand, where he dated the sexy, mystic, and mysterious local Achara. Ben has an infection in his spinal column, and Jack negotiates the freedom of Juliet, who was going to be sentenced to death for Pickett's murder. Later Jack recalls what happened to him when he ...
Having returned to camp, Sawyer's help is enlisted by Hugo, who has an obsession with retrieving an old VW van found on the island. More events in Hugo's life are also revealed, showing what brought him to be on the doomed flight.
Claire launches a plan to use migratory birds to send a message, but she doesn't understand why Desmond keeps sabotaging it. Elsewhere on the island, Sayid, Locke and Kate scale The Others' protective perimeter and discover their camp.
Jack tells Kate that he has made a deal with The Others and is leaving via submarine tomorrow. But Locke blows up the submarine before Jack can leave, after having a long conversation with Ben about the island's powers.
With their secret location now compromised, The Others abandon camp and take Locke with them. But they also leave Juliet behind, handcuffed to Kate in the middle of the jungle.
Jack takes Juliet back to their camp after being abandoned by The Others. However, nobody else at the camp trusts her or wants her there, until she saves Claire's life.
Desmond's latest fragmented vision suggests that his old girlfriend, Penny, will crash-land onto the island. Desmond organizes a posse of himself, Hurley, Jin, and Charlie to come along with him into the jungle expecting Penny to parachute onto the island. But the vision also suggests that Charlie will die by stumbling upon a trip-wire if he comes along with them. But Desmond insists that Charlie must come along to make the vision come true. Meanwhile, Desmond recalls his days in a monastery in Scotland over 10 years earlier after leaving his old fiancée, Ruth, a few ...
An unlikely person helps Desmond save the life of the mysterious woman who crashed onto the island, and Juliet helps Sun find out whether she conceived on the island or before the plane crash.
Locke tells Sawyer that he needs to come with him to kill Ben. But the man Locke wants him to kill is actually his father--who also happens to be a figure from Sawyer's past.
As Ben takes Locke to see Jacob and reveal the island's secrets, Ben's background on the island is exposed--as well as what happened to the Dharma Initiative.
Desmond has another vision of Charlie's death, but this time his death ultimately will result in Claire's rescue. Meanwhile, the survivors discover that an attack by the others is even more imminent than originally expected.
Jack and the survivors wait for Charlie to turn off The Others' signal-jamming device, not knowing that he has been captured at the Looking Glass station. In addition, Sayid, Jin and Bernard are captured after The Others invade the camp.