Ryan (from "Stray") returns and Clark has to save him from Dr. Garner of the Summerholt Research Facility. Meanwhile, Aunt Nell leaves Smallville, and Lex wants to expand the plant but runs afoul of the mayor.

Clark discovers that Jor-El was on Earth forty years ago. Lana's great uncle, who was convicted of murdering his wife forty years ago, shows her a picture of the man he believes really killed her aunt, and she is shocked to discover the drifter looks just like Clark. Sure that the man is Jor-El, Clark's investigation leads him to a kryptonian medallion that allows him to see bits of the past - and the life that Jor-El started for him long before he arrived on Earth.