After Oceanic Air Flight 815 tears apart in mid-air and crashes on a Pacific island on September 22nd 2004, its survivors are forced to find inner strength they never knew they had in order to survive. But they discover that the island holds many secrets, including a mysterious smoke monster, polar bears, housing with electricity and hot & cold running water, a group of island residents known as "The Others," and a mysterious man named Jacob. The survivors also find signs of those who came to the island before them, including a 19th century sailing ship called The Black Rock and the ruins of an ancient statue, as well as bunkers belonging to the DHARMA Initiative -- a group of scientific researchers who inhabited the island in the recent past.
In the sixth season, the main storyline follows the survivors, reunited in the present day. Following the demise of Jacob, the island's protector, the survivors are at the mercy of the evil Man in Black, known previously as the Smoke Monster. A "flash-sideways" narrative also follows the lives of the main characters in a setting where Flight 815 never crashed. In the final episodes, the survivors enter a confrontation with the Man in Black, with the world at stake. A small handful of survivors escape on the Ajira plane; several die, a few return home later, and others live happily on the island. The series finale reveals that the flash-sideways timeline was actually a form of limbo, where the survivors were reunited after they had all died.
