Besides a love for hoops, it would seem that Lucas and Nathan are two young men with little in common - except for the dark secret that they share the same father. Arrogant and assured, Nathan is the star of the high school basketball team and hails from the wealthiest family in town. Quiet, brooding and driven, Lucas is a loner, the only child of a single working mom. He's always kept his distance from Nathan. But their lives collide when a twist of fate puts Lucas on Nathan's team. The rumor that's haunted the boys since childhood now becomes more than just whispers as the half-brothers compete not only for control of the court, but also for the heart of Nathan's girlfriend. So unfolds a deep and bitter conflict that's been years in the making; one that will play itself out in their homes, their hearts and at school as they struggle to come to terms with who they really are - and the fact that they may have more in common than they ever imagined.

This series follows the eventful lives of some high-school kids in Tree Hill, a small but not too quiet town in North Carolina, where the greatest source of pride is the high school basketball team, the Ravens, since living memory coached by old Whitey Durham. Its greatest talent ever was Dan Scott, who now runs a successful car dealership. The present talents are his two sons, Nathan Scott, a beautiful and popular athlete, the absolute star, who was molded and stifled by his proud dad, ambitious Dan Scott, who pushes him harder then even the coach approves of, but rather neglected by his spoiled, impulsive mother Deb, an alcoholic, and Lucas, abandoned at birth with his devoted mother, hard-working café-owner Karen Roe, who grew up with Dan's older but poor brother Keith as substitute father as a social reject, only playing hoops on a public yard in the park with street-kids, his passion being reading; when an incident forces the coach to replace suspended players, Lucas soon proves the revelation, and after a while gets accepted and develops a dynamic, in the long run good relationship with his brother, who turns on his dad. Of course the teenage boys have friends, and especially a confusing series of usually short-loved 'eternal' love affairs with musical talents Peyton and Haley, also a tutor, and irresistible man-eater Brooke...