Flashbacks

In flashbacks, a younger Locke meets a mysterious woman (Swoosie Kurtz) in the discount superstore in which he works. After an initial meeting, Locke later notices this same woman watching him in the store's parking lot. He chases after her to confront her and she explains that she is his birth mother, Emily Locke. Locke asks about his father and Emily claims that Locke doesn’t have a father because he was immaculately conceived. Undeterred, Locke hires a private investigator who finds Locke's father, Anthony Cooper (Kevin Tighe). When Locke visits his father's affluent home he is welcomed with open arms. Locke forms a strong relationship with his father, who now frequently takes him hunting. One day Locke arrives at the home early and discovers his father receiving dialysis. Eventually Locke offers one of his kidneys to save his father. After the surgery, Locke wakes up in the hospital to find that his father has discharged himself home for private care and abandoned him. Emily arrives to explain this was all a scheme to get Anthony a kidney. Devastated, Locke pulls himself out of the hospital bed and drives to his father's home, but is turned away by the guard at the gate. As he drives away Locke breaks down over the betrayal.

On the Island

On the island, Locke and Boone Carlyle (Ian Somerhalder) build a trebuchet in an effort to break open the hatch window. When this fails, an exasperated Locke pounds the hatch. Boone notices a shard in Locke's leg but Locke says he feels no pain and that night he discovers he's losing the feeling in his legs.

That night, in a dream, Locke tells Boone that the island will send them a sign, at which point he notices a Beechcraft 18 crash in the jungle. The dream also reveals a secret about Boone. Awaking early the next day, Locke and Boone head out in search of the aircraft. When Boone doubts him, Locke mentions the secret he learned from his dream, leading Boone to follow Locke on the hunt. After some searching, they discover the plane unsteadily lodged in the jungle tree canopy high above. Locke has lost use of his legs and asks Boone to climb up to check the plane. In the plane Boone discovers a trove of statues of the Virgin Mary filled with heroin, the body of a "priest", and a working radio. Boone sends out a distress call on the radio and a male voice answers, "Is someone out there?" to which Boone responds, "We are the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815." He hears the reply, "No, WE are the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815." At this point the teetering plane shifts from Boone's movements and suddenly falls to earth, crashing nose first. Frantically, Locke struggles to his feet, hoists a critically injured Boone on his shoulders, and returns to the camp.

Locke carries Boone to the cave and lies to Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox), telling him that Boone fell from a cliff while they were hunting. Jack begins treating Boone, and Locke disappears into the jungle to return to the hatch. Pounding on the door and screaming in anguish atop the hatch, Locke laments what has happened. Suddenly the hatch window is illuminated, sending a shaft of light into the sky.

Meanwhile, Sawyer is suffering from headaches and Jack realizes that he is far-sighted, and requires glasses. With Sayid, he uses some of the spare glasses from the wreckage to weld a pair for Sawyer to read with.