Peter and Caitlin travel to Montreal, find a cryptic note, then teleport to Times Square one year in the future. Claire and West play a prank on Debbie. Maya, Alejandro and Sylar reach the U.S. border, where Maya is forced to kill four border patrol officers. Bob orders Mohinder to eliminate Monica’s ability using the supervirus; when Mohinder refuses, Bob assigns Niki (or possibly Jessica) to supervise him. Noah visits his mentor in Ukraine, gets the location of the missing Mendez paintings, and shoots him. Finally, Kensei saves Yaeko’s father, then watches Hiro and Yaeko kiss, and betrays them.

Matt and Nathan visit Papa Parkman, who conjures up images of their worst nightmares and nearly drives them to kill one another. Peter opens The Box. It contains a passport and a plane ticket to Montreal, which is apparently connected to the image Peter paints of a doorway. Elle visits Ireland looking for Peter, doesn’t find him, and kills Ricky. Meanwhile, Hiro, Kensei, and Yaeko locate White Beard’s Hidden Fortress, Monica explores her ability by playing Double Dutch, and Mohinder brings Molly to The Company in the hope that they can help her wake from her coma.

Claire lies to Noah and goes on a date with West. Angela confesses to Papa Sulu’s murder and gets arrested. We meet Monica Dawson, who lives and works in New Orleans and has the ability to mimic abilities she sees. Maya, Alejandro and Derek come across Sylar, Sylar comes across a brick, and Derek dies. Meanwhile, Nathan shows Matt a copy of the photo which Superhoodie has been using to send death threats to the Elder Supers. It turns out that one of the Elder Supers is both Matt’s father and Molly’s Nightmare Man. Matt persuades Molly to use her Super-GPS to find Nightmare Man. She does, but it puts her into a Super-Coma.

Sylar regains consciousness, kills Candice, and discovers he’s lost his abilities. Hiro places scrolls in the handle of Kensei’s sword recounting his recent adventures, and Ando finds them in the present. Claire goes flying with West, forgives him for being a jerk, and learns that Noah bagged ‘n’ tagged him. Peter takes part in an armed robbery, gets his box, then decides not to open it. Alejandro gets arrested for stealing a car, and Maya breaks him out of jail by killing the police officers. Niki leaves Micah with Great Aunt Uhura, then heads over to The Company for “a cure.” And Mohinder finds Painting #8, which depicts a dead Noah.

Claire explores her ability by cutting off her pinky toe and seeing what happens. West finds out. Peter gets beaten up, discovers he has lots of cool abilities, then agrees to work for the Irish gangsters in exchange for information about his identity. The Haitian comes down with the supervirus and returns to Haiti. Mohinder cures him and sends him to Noah. Maya and Alejandro reach Guatemala. A family friend gets the bleeding eyes, but Alejandro saves her. And Hiro masquerades as Kensei, makes Yaeko think that Kensei’s awesome, and watches Kensei die and come back to life.

Sylar paints a showdown with Peter, then heads over to Superhero Square to make it happen. Hiro teleports Ando back to Japan, but returns in time to stab Sylar. Claire ends up in the clutches of Nathan and the Ice Queen, but dives out a window and joins everyone else at Superhero Square. Peter has a dream of Papa Deveaux, and learns that all he needs in order to save the day is love. His smackdown with Sylar ends up turning him into the bomb, but Nathan shows up in time to fly Peter into the upper atmosphere, where they both explode. Or not. We’ll find out next season.

Matt and Daddy Bennet journey through Company Central. They meet Molly and Mohinder, and Thompson meets a bullet. Peter stops himself from going nuclear and plans to skip town with RadioTed and Claire. Their attempt is thwarted when Sylar helps AudreyClea to track down RadioTed. Sylar then intervenes and gives RadioTed a good ol’ scalping. Hiro visits the Samurai Workshop and finds Papa Sulu there. Strenuous training ensues, and Papa Sulu totally kicks Hiro’s butt for most of it. Micah rigs Nathan’s victory in the election. Before Linderman can exploit the kid further or put any more bullets through D.L., D.L. phases a fist through the guy’s brain. I’d add how brilliant this episode is, but that sort of goes without saying.

Sylar realizes he’s the bomb, feels guilty, and decides to visit his mom. Hiro follows Sylar to his home and plans to kill him. He fails. Peter doesn’t want to leave New York, and he doesn’t want Claire to either. They end up in Kirby Plaza, which, coincidentally, is where everyone else is, and where the SuperTrio’s road trip concludes. In other news: Jessica and D.L. are part of Linderman’s superhero breeding program, Nathan’s just about ready to blow up New York, and Mohinder gives Molly Walker a blood transfusion to cure her illness.

Linderman reveals the Big Plan to Nathan. It involves a nuclear explosion in New York which kills .07% of the population. Apparently, this unites the world with a sense of solidarity. Nathan thinks it’s nuts, as do we, but then begins to reconsider. This is after Peter takes a chunk of glass to the head and needs to be brought back to life by his darling niece. In other news, Daddy Bennet escapes from Primatech with Matt and RadioTed, Mohinder teams up with Thompson to stop Sylar, and Hiro meets himself. And Isaac gets the scalp treatment, which is all kinds of tragic.

Mohinder figures out that Zane is Sylar. He proceeds to torture Sylar. Then Sylar tortures Mohinder. Then Peter loses the emo-bangs and the world weeps. Meanwhile, FBI agents approach Nathan to discuss Linderman’s downfall. It goes awry. Jessica kills the agents and Linderman entices Nathan with ideas of presidency. Hiro gets his sword. His powers immediately return. And Claire ditches the Haitian to go find Peter. She finds Grandma Petrelli, who reveals that she’s the one giving instructions to the Haitian. Despite a ton of plotholes and inconsistencies, it’s an amazing hour for story twists and character arcs.