Clark is working out in the barn with Shelby, who is nervous. The dog starts barking and Clark looks outside and sees nothing. Then something knocks him out… and he wakes up to see a doctor and several patients hovering over him. Clark discovers that he’s in a group therapy session and the doctor, Hudson, says he was talking to them about being in the barn. The other patients know all about the Phantom Zone and the villains and Jor-El. Two guards advance on Clark and he realizes he has no powers as they take him away.

Dr. Hudson comes to visit Clark in his cell and explains he had a psychotic break, is a paranoid-schizophrenic, and his birth parents died in the Smallville meteor shower. Clark doesn’t believe him and think it’s one of Lex’s schemes. Hudson warns that Clark is getting worse but he has a treatment, and Clark has been in the psychiatric hospital for five years. Later Clark goes out into the general ward where he’s required to take medication. Another patient, John, talks to him as Kal-El and says he’s also from another planet, Mars, and warns Clark not to trust anyone. The guards knock him out and take him away.

Clark spots a janitor, knocks him out, and takes his uniform and makes his escape. He goes back to the barn to find Lana living in the loft. She welcomes him and explains that she bought the farm and moved in. She says that he promised they’d never be apart in their freshman year, and she doesn’t remember being with Whitney. She says Clark is the only one she’s ever loved, but when she realizes Lex has escaped she tries to call the hospital. She says Martha is at the Luthor Manor and Clark goes there.

Clark finds Martha in Lex’s office but when he tries to get her out, she reveals she married Lionel. As he tries to take her out she drops her purse and finds drugs prescribed for Martha. She claims they’re allergy pills and triggers the alarm. Clark gets past the guards and runs out into the woods, but one of them captures up to him. A van pulls up and distracts the guard, and Clark jumps into the van to find Chloe driving it. They escape and pull up to a warehouse. She says she’s been working against the Luthors and warns that Lex is dangerous, then loans him her van.

Clark goes to confront Lex in his LuthorCorp office. An angry Lex talks about their encounter on the bridge five years ago and reveals that he lost both his legs, and Clark caused the accident. Lionel had Clark committed and Lex expresses his regret that he didn’t run Clark over.

Clark goes to the Talon to find it abandoned. Lana arrives and says it’s been abandoned for years, and she admits that Clark did cause Lex’s accident. He doesn’t remember anything of their relationship that she describes and goes to see Chloe upstairs against Lana’s advice. She’s packing to leave and warns the Luthors are coming after them, then reveals she was in the mental institute as well. Lana arrives and Chloe runs off, and when Clark goes to intercept her downstairs, LuthorCorp guards arrive. When Chloe goes for a gun, they shoot and kill her and she dies in Clark’s arms.

Clark is then back in the hospital with a strait jacket as Dr. Hudson says he needs to get the treatment. He says that Clark took bits and pieces of items from the hospital and incorporated them into his delusion: patient and staff names like Milton Fine, Arthur Curry, Raya, and Oliver Queen; room names like 331. Hudson shows him a piece of meteor rock that has no affect on Clark, then goes to prepare the treatment as Clark is overwhelmed by the shock.

Later in his cell, John talks to Clark across the hall and tries to convince him he was infected/possessed by a Zone parasite-prisoner. He warns that if Clark takes the treatment it will represent him giving in to it and it will take him over, then reunite the other escapees. John says that Clark must kill Hudson to break the parasite’s hold on him, and trust in himself. The guards haul John away and use a lighter to scare him then knock him out. The guards then take Clark to the treatment away where Lana is there to be with him, and tell him to stop fighting.

Dr. Hudson arrives to administer the treatment and they strap him to the table, then prepare a laser drill. Clark hears Shelby barking faintly in the background, realizes who he is, fights past the guards, grabs Hudson, and strangles him. Walker’s eyes turn black, the Zone spirit flashes out of Clark’s body… and into a sphere that John in real life is holding, back in the barn. Chloe arrives and John’s eyes glow red as he disappears into the sky.

Later Clark and Chloe are at Chloe’s apartment and he realizes that he was willing to give up everything for Lana, and admits he still loves her. The next day, Clark meets Lana at the Talon and mentions his “dream” of having an engagement ring for her. Before Lana can arrive, Lex arrives to pick up his fiancé and Lana leaves with him.