Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
The new season answers Lucas’s airport call: Peyton is the woman he wants, and the two return to Tree Hill to plan the wedding they want with family and friends around them. Nathan keeps working toward a basketball comeback while helping coach the Ravens; Jamie and the family grieve Quentin, who is killed early in the season. Brooke takes troubled teenager Sam into her home, then navigates the strain between Sam and her own mother, Victoria, as she tries to build a life beyond the clothing company.
Carrie returns with a plan to take Jamie and uses Dan’s terminal illness to lure Haley and the boy into a trap. Deb helps them escape, and Dan confronts Carrie, ending her threat to the family. His chance at a heart transplant later appears to arrive, but a dog eats the donor heart after it is dropped at the hospital. Meanwhile, Nathan is offered a development-league coaching job before he earns another chance to play; he keeps pushing toward the NBA as Haley supports his choice to pursue basketball.
Peyton’s pregnancy threatens her life. She insists on carrying their daughter despite the risk, and Lucas struggles with the possibility of losing her. They marry in Tree Hill. After complications send Peyton into emergency surgery, she wakes and names the baby Sawyer. Nathan learns he has been called up to the Charlotte Bobcats, while Brooke and Julian choose a future together. Lucas, Peyton and Sawyer leave Tree Hill in the restored Comet, closing the season on their departure.