In a freak accident, police crime scene investigator Barry Allen is struck by lightning and doused in chemicals. Barry discovers that this accident gave him the power to move at nearly the speed of sound. With help from STAR Labs scientist Tina McGee, he learns to control his powers, but when his motorcycle-cop older brother Jay is killed in the line of duty, Barry asks Tina to make him a special costume that can withstand the rigors of hyperspeed travel: he is determined to clean up the streets of Central City as The Flash.