Following a horrific plane crash, 48 survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 from Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles, California, USA, find themselves on an uncharted tropical island in the South Pacific Ocean that is full of secrets, as they come to learn. The first day on the island is full of monsters, countdowns, screams, stories of the past and an unfolding love story between the quick-thinking Jack Shepherd, a doctor, and the level-headed Kate Austen, a mysterious young woman. Jack, Kate and Charlie, a former British rock music player and heroin junkie, venture into the jungle to locate the pilot cockpit to find the transciever and come up against a mysterious and unseen island "beast". Other survivors with mysterious pasts are introduced: The Iraqi with personal demons Sayid; the bumblingly awkward Hurley; the determined John Locke; the unpleasant and unfriendly self-serving swindler and sociopath Sawyer who tests everyone's patience; the very pregnant Australian teenager Claire Littleton; the bickering non-English speaking Korean couple Jin and Sun Kwon; a friendly guy, Michael Dawson who is overprotective of his estranged 10-year-old son Walt; and the egoistical, spoiled, rich girl, Shannon, who quarrels with her estranged older half-brother Boone.
