Claire finds it increasingly difficult to keep lying to her father, all the while knowing exactly what has happened all around her, while she makes plans to visit her biological mother. Nikki's husband makes a deal for her release. Hiro's father wants him to return to Japan, and he scrambles to find a way to stay his own course, searching for the sword. Peter convinces Claude to help him understand his own powers, including Claude's invisibility.

Hiro learns of his father's death and travels back in time to save him only to realize that he must let events unfold as fate intended. He does however recognize his father's killer. Matt Parkman realizes that he has the ability to implant thoughts in other people's minds. He wants to know the identity of the woman in the photo with his father. When Bob and Suresh kidnap Claire Bennet, HRG and West set out to rescue her but get their own bargaining chip beforehand.

Claire, back home in California, begins attending college, but is having difficulty adjusting when a mysterious death of a student during the orientation puts her back in the spotlight. In Japan, Hiro and Ando continue their quest to help people with abilities and go so much as to advertise themselves. Meanwhile, Angela fears Nathan/Syler will discover his true identity. Matt tries to settle down back in Los Angeles and raise his son and not worry about unexpected visitors. Elsewhere, Peter is using his ability for good when a mysterious carnival clan, led by Samuel Sullivan, arrives in town which could spell trouble for him and everyone else.

As Hiro's life continues to hang in the balance, he distracts himself with saving the lives of others. Meanwhile, Angela tries to help the new "Nathan" remember his past, at the risk of his remembering too much. Elsewhere, Tracy is determined to get her old job back, but soon realizes that she needs to make more of an impact.

H.R.G. hosts a non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner by inviting Claire over at his apartment for dinner. But the dinner becomes more awkward and uncomfortable when Noah invites his former co-worker Lauren, while Noah's ex-wife, Sandra, also shows up with her newest beau, a younger man named Doug Douglas, whom like her also has a small dog fetish. Claire is also conflicted about where she wants to be, in which Noah invites over Gretchen to try to lift up her spirits. Meanwhile, the Petrelli family gets a surprise guest at their table when Sylar shows up having reclaimed Nathan's body and holds both Peter and Angela at his mercy. Elsewhere, Samuel continues to hold Hiro hostage as part of some grand master plan, as Lydia goes to Hiro in search of the truth about Samuel.

Samuel goes off and tries to bring Emma into the fold by manipulating her about how special her sight-of-sound powers are, while back at the Sullivan Brothers Carnival, Claire becomes more suspicious about Samuel's intentions and deals with not only Samuel's right hand, Replicating Man, Eli, but also the Puppet Master Eric Doyle. A delirium-stricken Hiro returns to Japan and tries to convince Ando in code-talk to help rescue Mohinder from a lunatic asylum in Florida where Hiro forcibly placed him for protection from Samuel.