The episode begins with a flashback during the black out on October 6, 2009 when the blackout occurred. During the blackout, a bus drives itself into a lake after the driver blacked out, and only an Australian woman and a guy named Ned (Keir O’Donnell) escape before the entire bus fills with water. Ned seems unusually calm given the situation.

The episode then cut to 14 days later, October 20, when Ned goes to the hospital because he’s been suffering some pain lately, and is getting checked out by Olivia Benford and Bryce Varley until Bryce asks Ned “What did you see?”. Ned tells them that he was in a club, wearing leather pants and seeming popular and confident. And he was black. He wonders how anyone’s skin can turn from white to black within six months. Ned stills seems remarkably calm and accepting of his unusual situation.

We then see Demetri and his girlfriend Zoey Andata (Gabrielle Union), who are making arrangements for their wedding on April 29, 2010, the date that everyone saw in their flashforward. Zoey then asks Demetri about the woman terrorist, Alda Herzog (Rachel Roberts), that Demetri and Mark were chasing after in No More Good Days. Demetri tells her that they’re still interrogating her, and Zoey asks him to “go Dick Cheney on her” if she’s responsible for the blackout.

Demetri goes back to work to continue interrogating Alda, who goads Demitri about his lack of a flashforward, and will give no information about her group, other than the name “Customer Choice Restaurant Group”, a fast food joint in Indio, California. Demetri, who believes this could lead to a group of bomb-makers, asks Wedeck for permission to go and he gladly gives it to him, while denying Mark’s permission to visit Somalia to follow up his lead from 137 Sekunden. Agent Gough (Lee Thompson Young) offers to call a hacker known as “Mr. Cheeto Dust”, who can get hold of CIA satellite pictures of Somalia from the time their blackout occurred. Mark rejects the idea as being illegal.

Meanwhile, Nicole Kirby, (who hasn’t been seen since No More Good Days), is talking to Aaron Stark, who is her sponsor, to help her with the stress she’s been going through since the blackout. Aaron tells her that everyone saw what they saw for a reason, and reassures her that everything is going to be okay.

Meanwhile at the hospital, Lloyd Simcoe is asking Olivia for advice on how to deal with his son Dylan (Ryan Wynott)’s autistic episodes. Olivia, however, is made very uncomfortable by talking to Lloyd, as he is the man she saw herself having an affair with. She does not believe Lloyd knows this, as the flashforward ended just as he was turning to look at her. Olivia tells him that instead of sleeping in a chair next to his son’s hospital bed every night, he should try sleeping at home for a while, hoping that she can try to move Dylan into physical therapy, getting Dylan out of her hands and Lloyd out of her life. Bryce then finds Olivia and gives her Ned’s CT Scan results, which shows that Ned has a hematoma on his brain, and if he hadn’t come in earlier, the blood buildup in his brain would have killed him. However, Bryce is still confused about how Ned suddenly turns black in six months and starts looking for some online information to get some answers on this.

Meanwhile in Indio, Mark and Demetri are in “Customer Choice Restaurant Group”, hoping to see if any of the employees are part of a bomb making business. The waiter seems affable, but loudly informs the kitchen that the FBI agents would like to order, at which kitchen worker Vladimir Petrov (Adam Tsekhman) grabs a suitcase and runs. Demitri and Mark chase him down into a trailer park and subdue him, revealing a suitcase full of marijuana. Vladimir explains that in his flashforward, he was selling the weed and suddenly became a pimp because of all the money he made off of it, and claims that he has taken up dealing since the flashforward on the basis that “you can’t escape fate.”

This angers Demetri, who begins to beat up Vladimiar and has to be restrained by Mark. When questioned about the outburst, Demetri then finally tells Mark about the call he took from Hong Kong in White to Play giving details of his murder. Mark reassures Demetri that with the knowledge they’re gathering from each others flashforwards and information they’re gathering on the blackout, they can try to prevent Demetri’s murder. As the local police arrest Vladimir, the pair return to Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, Lloyd and Bryce are watching the news about how a man’s future career is saved by an Los Angeles FBI Agent, Demetri (as previously seen in 137 Sekunden). Bryce then asks Lloyd about his flashforward. Lloyd tells him that in his flashforward, he was in a house, somebody elses, and he was sitting on the living room couch and gets a call from somebody. He claims he doesn’t know who it was but it seemed urgent. He then heard a woman’s voice calling for him, and just before he even gets a glimpse of her face, his flashforward ended. Bryce, is startled to hear the way in which this vision connects with Olivia’s flashforward, which she told him about in No More Good Days.

Bryce then continues to search for more information about Ned and then finds out the truth: Ned has Addison’s Disease, meaning that instead of producing adrenaline, he’s producing melanin compounds, which is the reason why his skin becomes darker in his flashforward and is the reason why he remains calm during serious situations. Ned didn’t tell them about the disease because he was unaware of it, and without adrenaline during the surgery, Ned is going to die.

Bryce rushes to warn Olivia about Ned’s disease, but she is unwilling to base medical judgements on flashforwards. Bryce and Olivia have an argument in which both accuse the other of allowing their flashforwards to cloud their judgement: Bryce had a positive vision and seems desperate to prove that the visions will come true, while Olivia was deeply disturbed by hers and is equally desperate to discount them. Olivia proceeds to surgery, but Ned’s condition deteriorates and she is forced to admit the possibility of Addison’s Disease and act accordingly. Ned’s life is saved, and the other surgeons congratulate her on a “good catch”, but she is troubled by the implication that the flashforwards must be coming true.

Meanwhile, Lloyd goes back to his house, where he finds a book in Dylan’s room about magic tricks. Lloyd then goes back to the hospital, hoping to calm Dylan down and bond with his son again. Meanwhile, Nicole is at church talking with Father Seabury (Sean O’Bryan) about doing some community service, but he tells her that they’re pretty much filled up with workers. When he asks why she seems so interested, since she barely comes to church anymore. She then asks him if he thinks God caused the flashforward to punish them. The priest then claims it’s less likely, but not impossible. Meanwhile, Mark is interrogating Alda once more. She still won’t give any information and uses a sufi fable to accuse Mark of lacking the courage to find the answers he seeks.

Meanwhile, Al Gough is looking for a woman named Celia on the Mosaic Collective website, until Mark comes in and tells him to call “Mr. Cheeto Dust” and have him/her to find the pictures of Somalia. Back at the hospital, Olivia apologizes to Bryce not listening to him, and tells him that she’s here if he needs to talk to her about his previous suicidal thoughts – but he responds that he’s fine now because “the future saved me”, a thought echoed later by Ned. Olivia had tried to have Dylan Simcoe moved off her ward, but he is returned to her care by a nurse.

Meanwhile, Mark comes home to find Nicole babysitting Charlie (Lennon Wynn). Mark asks her why she seems depressed and Nicole’s flashforward is finally revealed: In her flashforward, somebody was drowning her, and she felt like she deserved it. She also mentions seeing the perpetrator’s face. Mark tells her that she should give the man’s description to the police. Just before Nicole can leave, Charlie asks her to stay for some “breakfast for dinner”. Nicole joins her, finally calming down since the blackout.

Meanwhile at the hospital, Olivia watches as Lloyd entertains Dylan with some magic tricks, and then Oliva continues home. As Lloyd goes to the hospital cafeteria to get Dylan some soup, he gets a call from someone named Simon Costa (Dominic Monaghan), who tells Lloyd that they need to talk. Lloyd declines but Simon tells him that “talking to me is one of those little inconveniences you’re going to have to put up with, now that we’re responsible for the single, greatest disaster in human history.” Lloyd then hangs up on Simon, very unhappy.

“Black Swan” is the fourth episode of the first season of FlashForward. The episode’s teleplay was written by David S. Goyer and Marc Guggenheim. The episode was directed by Michael Rymer. It originally aired in the United States on ABC on October 15, 2009.

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