4

In the premiere episode, Peter Petrelli is a nurse living in New York City. He is sensitive and compassionate, wears his heart on his sleeve and is described as a "dreamer". Peter is also defined by his complex relationship with his older brother, Nathan, to whom he feels very close, even claiming he has a sort of metaphysical connection that allowed him to know immediately when Nathan suffered a serious accident in the past. Differences between Peter and Nathan, an ambitious politician who is so focused on his congressional campaign that he shows no compassion when their mother is arrested for shoplifting, have caused tensions between the brothers.

These tensions are exacerbated when Peter starts having extraordinarily vivid dreams of flying. He tries to confide in Nathan, but his brother tells him that the dreams are a sign of psychological distress. Eventually Peter summons Nathan to witness as he jumps off a building to prove he can fly. However, it's Nathan who flies, catching Peter as he falls. Peter blacks out after the brothers lose their grip on each other, waking up in the hospital with muddled recollections of what happened. Nathan claims neither of them flew and that Peter simply jumped, nearly killing himself. Between this and his mother's revelation that Peter's late father had been mentally unstable as well as suicidal, Peter is led to believe he's going crazy.

Drawing a crude stick figure image with one figure levitating a few feet above the ground, Peter gets an idea. Attempting to discover the truth, Peter stands on the edge of another rooftop later that evening. Nathan arrives, and Peter threatens to jump if Nathan doesn't tell him what really happened. Nathan admits that they both flew: Nathan first caught Peter, lost his grip, and then Peter flew some way down to the ground before falling. Peter at first doesn't believe it, thinking Nathan is only telling him what he wants to hear, but then Nathan points out to Peter that Peter is levitating as they argue. However, Peter's later attempts to fly, when he is away from his brother's presence, are initially unsuccessful.