Clark's first day on the job at the Daily Planet begins with a bus exploding right outside the building, which leads him and Lois on a trail of someone who might be infected by kryptonite. Chloe finds a runaway teenage girl, named Bette, whom Chloe suspects is involved in the explosion when Bette (whom will later become the fire-starter Plastique) has the meteor-rock power of pyrokinesis. In the meantime, Chloe also meets a local medic, named Davis Bloom, who takes an interest in her, even though she's engaged to Jimmy Olsen. Elsewhere, Tess meets Clark for the first time as she takes over the Daily Planet in Lex's absence and immediately senses something not right about him.

Jimmy takes a photo of Clark using his super-speed while saving Lois from danger, but it comes out blurred. Tess decides the story should make the front page for the Daily Planet exposing the mysterious new 'superhero' that. Chloe refuses to continue helping Clark protect his secret, so Clark turns to Oliver for help when Jimmy gets too close to discovering his secret. Meanwhile, Lois meets Sebastian Kane, a new reporter at the Daily Planet, who has the power to see peoples' memories by merely touching. He has been hired by Tess to find the missing alien crystal.