Lucas receives an unlikely visitor: his supposedly dead uncle Keith. Meanwhile, the lives of Haley and her unborn child are threatened when she experiences serious complications with her pregnancy. Nathan wrestles with the guilt and consequences of his dealings with Daunte. Dan tries to make amends for Keith's murder. And Peyton and Brooke try to patch up their differences.
Contains examples of the following tropes:
- Call-Back: Keith takes Lucas to his old garage, complete with Peyton’s Comet being worked on. During their conversation, Keith brings up Peyton yelling at Lucas for going through her art, before teasing Lucas for not just refilling the radiator on site.
- Commuting on a Bus: Craig Sheffer returns as Keith Scott, to guide Lucas through a sort of purgatory.
- Creator Cameo: Series creator and show runner Mark Schwahn plays the record store worker who interacts with Nathan and Peyton.
- Dead Person Conversation:
- Lucas spends the majority of the episode talking with Keith’s spirit.
- As he sits in a prison cell after being arrested for Daunte's murder, Dan is visited by Keith. It's a far less pleasant experience for Dan than what Lucas has.
- Dramatic Irony: Nathan blames himself for Dan being in jail, completely unaware that Dan should be in jail for murdering Keith.
- For Want Of A Nail: Lucas is shown that, if he was a lesser version of himself, things in Tree Hill would be drastically different.
- If Lucas doesn’t visit Haley on tour and ask her to come home, Haley would have stayed on tour and Nathan become bitter, buying copies of her album purely to destroy them.
- If Lucas doesn’t go into the school during the shooting, Peyton dies and Brooke, blaming herself for leaving Peyton in the school, becomes a drastically different person lashing out at the rest of the world.
- It's a Wonderful Plot: Lucas questions if there was any point in him being such a kind-hearted person, considering everything that's happened to the people he loves, with Haley being hit by a car & his subsequent heart attack (Thanks to it being the latest horrible thing to happen to Peyton) being the tipping point, with Keith as his guide.
- It's All My Fault: Nathan blames himself for everything, reasoning that Dan wouldn’t be in jail nor would Lucas and Haley be in the hospital if he hadn’t gotten involved with Daunte.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: It’s left up to the viewer to decide if Keith visiting Lucas in his dream is just Lucas’ dream or if Keith is actually visiting his nephew from beyond the grave; and similarly, if the Keith haunting Dan is actually Keith or just Dan’s subconscious.
- Shout-Out: It's a Wonderful Life is shown playing on the television in Lucas’ hospital room.
- The Lost Lenore: Lucas is shown that, if he doesn’t go back, he will become this for Peyton and she’ll mourn him for the rest of her life.
- The Reveal: Keith teases Lucas about his first meeting with Peyton, specifically how Lucas brought the Comet in for repair when all it needed was the radiator refilling, which could have been done on site.
- Time-Shifted Actor: When confronted with the spirit of the adult Keith, Dan lampshades that until now, he’s only been haunted by Keith’s spirit as a child.
- Titled After the Song: The title of the episode is taken title originated from the album "Songs To Love And Die By" by 8MM.
- Wham Episode: Because of his dream whilst in a coma, Lucas wakes up determined to find out what really happened in the hallway when Keith and Jimmy died.
