Dreams of placing the octagonal key into the center of a glyph in the cave have been haunting Clark, calling him to a discovery. Jonathan warns him against taking action for fear of danger from the unexpected.
Later at school, Clark hears a high-pitched sound that no one else detects. It leads him to the octagonal spaceship key, hidden by Jonathan at the farm. Clark is compelled to take it to the cave. It flies from his hand into place in the cave wall glyphs. The wall glyphs change colors, illuminate, and turn. The center opens in the shape of a shield (did you notice the outline that surrounds the Superman "S" logo?) and a ray of energy streaks out, lifting Clark off his feet into the air. With the energy flowing through his body, Clark gains understanding of the cave symbols and glyphs.
Lex is awakened. The octagonal key is gone. Lex in concerned about Clark, since the guard reported an explosion in the cave.
Later at the farm, Clark again hears the high-pitched sounds. Uncontrollably, heat vision shoots from his eyes, burning a symbol into the side of the barn. Jonathan and Martha witness what happened.
Chloe arrives to give Clark a ride to school and snaps a photo of the burned image after the fire is out. Jonathan boards up the side of the barn, covering the symbol, which Clark says means "HOPE."
Lex finds out Dr. Walden, the expert Lex has hired to study the caves, wants to take a part of the cave wall back to his lab for study. The state is threatening to revoke LexCorp's foundation's permission to research in the cave to award it to another foundation. Lex gives the professor three more days for answers.
While working on the genealogy project at school using Chloe's computer, Lana snoops into Chloe's personal file and sees the photos Chole kept of herself and Clark at the spring formal. Chloe catches Lana snooping and gets upset over the invasion of her privacy. Hurt, Chloe tells Lana that Clark called Lana's name while he was sick and delirious while Chloe confessed her love.
Later at the Talon, Lana tells Clark about her snooping and Chloe being upset. Clark was doodling symbols on his genealogy tree. When Lana notices it, and Clark realizes he was writing using symbols from the cave, Clark crumbles the paper and leaves. Lex arrives as both Clark and Lana leave, and finds the doodled drawings. Lex shows the doodles to Dr. Warner and tells him he should work with Clark on answers to translating the symbols. Lex has also seen Chloe's photo of the barn symbol printed in the Torch.
With too much tension between herself and Chloe, Lana decides to pack up and move out of Chloe's house. Chloe apologizes, showing Lana her family tree from the class genealogy project. Lana is listed as her sister because she is like family.
Clark is bombarded with e-mail from VSwann. The message includes the photo of the barn symbol, with a text message that says "HOPE" "I have something for you." Clark replies, using Pete's laptop. The message back from VSwann contains three symbols, with text that says "If you can read this I have the answers you're looking for." Clark tells Pete the symbols say "I'm a friend."
Back at the cave, Dr. Walden finds the octagonal key wedged into a wall. He removes it, realizing it is the same shape as the center of a large cave glyph, and puts in place. Again the glyphs are illuminated, the center opens, and a ray of energy shoots out, slamming Dr. Walden into a far wall. Just then Clark finds him and the octagonal key.
Lex meets Clark at the hospital with Dr. Walden. Lex tries to get information from Clark about what happened. Lex says he thinks the language is from another planet. Clark plays him off convincingly with a laugh. The doctor tells Lex that Dr. Walden suffered from a massive seizure and information overload, leaving him catatonic.
Clark receives a courier message at the hospital. He waits for a private moment to read it...an invitation from V. Swann. Chloe tells Clark that Dr. Virgil Swann is a brilliant legendary physicist who earned billions of dollars from his satellite communications company. Swann is now a reclusive researcher searching for life in space. The address he's given is the planetarium in New York City.
Trying to protect Clark, Martha and Jonathan try to prevent Clark from meeting Swann. Finally they agree and offer to accompany him. Clark explains that he must go alone.
Clark meets Swann in the back room of the planetarium in New York. Swann activates a screen displaying a message from the stars that he received at a communications station 13 years ago (the day of the meteor shower that brought Clark to Earth). Swann has translated the message after years of study. The message says "This is Kal-el of Krypton, our infant son, our last hope. Please protect him and deliver him from evil." Swann has always wondered what happened to that infant child, then traced the adopted Clark to Smallville via the photograph of the burned symbol on the barn. Clark denies the connection, trying to keep his secret. Swann tells him if he leaves, he will never learn the second part of the message. Clark asks Swann why he is doing this. Swann declares that he has to know if his translation is correct. Swann promises his knowledge will never the room. He shows Clark the second screen, displaying the end of the message. Clark reads it to say "We will be with you Kal el, all the days of your life."
Swann doesn't know the meaning, but encourages patience. Clark looks at a marked star map on the wall, asking if that is where Krypton is. Dr. Swann tells Clark that the planet no longer exists and he doesn't know what happened to it. Clark realizes he may be the only survivor, and questions why he was sent to Earth. Swann tells him he'll have to discover that by writing his own destiny, not by looking to the stars.
Back at home, Jonathan finds Clark in the storm cellar with the spaceship. He gently welcomes a dialogue. Clark tells him there are no others like him, "I'm totally alone." Jonathan tells him, "You are never alone son. This is your home and we love you very much." Together, Clark and Jonathan activate the ship. Clark inserts the ship's "heart." A circular message of symbols is revealed. The message is from Clark's biological father, "On this third planet from the star 'Sol' you will be god among men. Their flawed race rule them with strength, my son, that is where your greatness lies." Clark's not sure he's read the message correctly but he fears he was sent to Earth to conquer. Jonathan tells Clark he is the only one who can decide how to lead his life. Jonathan assures Clark that he is convinced Clark is on Earth to be a force for good, not evil. Jonathan knows this as Clark's father who raised him, and knows him better than anyone.
Starring: Tom Welling (Clark Kent), Kristin Kreuk (Lana Lang), Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor), Sam Jones III (Pete Ross), Allison Mack (Chloe Sullivan), John Glover (Lionel Luthor), Annette O'Toole (Martha Kent), John Schneider (Jonathan Kent)
Guest Stars: Christopher Reeve (Dr. Virgil Swann), Rob Labelle (Dr. Fredrick Walden), Barclay Hope (Doctor), Joe MacLeod (Delivery Guy)
Written by Alfred Gough & Miles Millar
Directed by James Marshall