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There are people in our world who are changing, who are on the verge of taking the next evolutionary step in human development. There are others who are interested in finding these people. Some, like Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy), are hoping to find them in order to make the world a better place. Still others are out to do both sets of those people harm, though for what reason it isn't yet clear.

I have to admit that this episode starts off in a fashion that is a bit jumbled. This seems to be the fashion lately, with many shows that try to do too much all at once. Perhaps it's just trying to get so many things going, and risk losing people, rather than start slowly and run the risk of losing viewers because they aren't doing enough.

Regardless, we are introduced to this world by way of a scrolling marquee, which is itself interesting enough, and at least gives us some idea of what is going on, so that we can suspend some belief for a little while and give the story an opportunity to catch up:

In recent days, a seemingly random
group of individuals has emerged with
what can only be described as
"special" abilities.

Although unaware of it now, these
individuals will not only save the
world, but change it forever. This
transformation from ordinary to
extraordinary will not occur overnight.
Every story has a beginning.

Volume One of their epic tale
begins here...

We then start in New York City, where we meet Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia), who is telling a friend about his odd dreams of being able to fly. Suddenly we jump back to three days ago, and across the planet as well, to India, where we meet Mohinder Suresh as he is teaching and discover his theory of the cockroach as the pinnacle of evolution. He also tells us that we are at the threshold of human potential. Then his class ends and he learns that his father has died. Suddenly, he begins a search for his father's research into this evolutionary process.

In his father's apartment, we see a map with thumbtacks and also an apparent intruder looking for something. Before he can be discovered, Suresh takes a picture of the map, pulls the pin from New York, and takes off.

The next stop is Las Vegas, Nevada, and Niki Sanders (Ali Larter) - a single mother who has trouble making ends meet, so she broadcasts Internet video from her makeshift studio in the garage. She also borrowed $30,000 from a loan shark to get her son into private school, and to make matters worse, he is now being kicked out.

Even worse than that is that she isn't cutting things with her online business and she isn't going to be able to pay them back and just to put a little cherry on top, she's having hallucinations when she looks in the mirror. It's like there is someone else there, who is not doing quite the same thing as she is. It's quite disconcerting - that's not how a mirror is supposed to work.

In Odessa, Texas, high school cheerleader Claire Bennet (Hayden Panettiere) has discovered that she can't be hurt - or at least, if she is hurt, she can heal really, really quickly. She has enlisted the aid of a friend to help film all the times she tries to kill herself. Thus far, she's tried six times and hasn't been successful.

On the way home from her latest attempt, Claire runs into a burning train wreck and saves the life of someone trapped inside. No one saw her, but it's likely that this will lead to some exposure down the road. When her father comes home, we see it's the same guy who was leading up the charge to cause trouble elsewhere - I suspect that he knows what Claire may be capable of, but perhaps he doesn't.

Back in New York, Peter has decided to confide in his brother Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) - who happens to be running for office. Unfortunately, Nathan doesn't think that his brother's desire to fly would be a good thing if word got out, so he asks Peter to keep it under wraps. Unfortunately, their mom isn't helping, as she stole some socks and got herself arrested. They manage to keep it out of the press, so it shouldn't hurt the campaign, but it looks like Nathan has his hands full.

The only stop outside the United States takes us to Tokyo, Japan, where we meet Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka), who unlike most people in Japan isn't content with the life he lives, and wants to do something different. He is convinced that, if he concentrates, he can harness the powers of his mind to control time and if he really applies himself, he can even teleport (like he sees on Star Trek).

One day while sitting at his desk he makes the clock jump back one second, and he just knows he has done it. When he goes out with a friend that night, he teleports himself into the women's bathroom, which promptly gets him kicked out - but he is genuinely joyous (and he is easily the most fun character to watch). While he isn't believed, on his subway ride home that night, he really focuses and when he gets off the train, he finds himself in Times Square. I'm not sure what he can do with that power, but it is quite impressive.

Suresh rents his father's apartment in Brooklyn, only to find that the same people that were in India have found this apartment as well. He starts to recreate the map by going through some of the files that are left intact.

Also in New York, though it's not specified where at this point, we meet an artist - Isaac Mendez (Santiago Cabrera) - who is also a drug addict. He is frantically trying to cover his paintings, as he has discovered that he has the unique ability to foretell the future with them. He painted a bus, and found out that the bus he painted was involved in a suicide bombing. Not just any bus, mind you, but a bus with the same number and everything. He painted it three weeks before it happened. He has also painted the train wreck involving Claire, a flying person, the coming eclipse, a nuclear explosion and other things - but he doesn't remember painting any of them (he was high while he painted them).

As the eclipse comes, Niki is visited by two men wanting to collect her debt. They want $50,000 for the $30,000 she borrowed, which naturally she doesn't have. They turn on her camera and tell her that she can start to lower the debt a little. The next thing she knows, the garage is a disaster area, the two guys are dead and her reflection in the mirror is giving her a knowing look. She has no idea what happened.

Finally, Peter asks Nathan to meet him, and when he does, he finds that Peter is at the top of a building, getting ready to step off. All this because he believes he can fly. Peter launches himself off the edge, and it seems that Peter can't fly - but Nathan can, so he meets Peter in the air. But it's too much, and Peter slips from his grasp.