Earth 2011
After a violent shipwreck, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen was missing and presumed dead for 5 years before being discovered alive on a remote island in the North China Sea. When he returns home to Starling City, his devoted mother, Moira, much-beloved sister, Thea, and best friend, Tommy welcome him home, but they sense Oliver has been changed by his ordeal on the island. While Oliver hides the truth about the man he has become, he desperately wants to make amends for the actions he took as the boy he was. Most particularly, he seeks reconciliation with his ex-girlfriend, Laurel Lance.

As Oliver reconnects with those closest to him, he secretly creates the persona of the Arrow, a vigilante archer, to right the wrongs of his family, fight the ills of society and restore Starling City to its former glory. By day, Oliver plays the role of a wealthy, carefree and careless philanderer he used to be, flanked by his devoted chauffeur and bodyguard, John Diggle, while carefully concealing the secret identity he turns to under the cover of darkness. However, Laurel's father, Detective Quentin Lance, is determined to arrest Arrow for operating in his city. Meanwhile, Oliver's own mother, Moira, knows much more about the deadly shipwreck than she has let on and is more ruthless than he could ever imagine.