Abin Sur lay dying in the desert next to his crashed ship. He uses the Power Battery to send the ring out to find help. The ring finds Hal Jordan, a test pilot, who is sitting in a trainer. The ring takes him to Abin Sur. He tells the story of how he came to Earth and crashed, that the yellow sunlight blinded him. Abin tells Hal there is an impurity within the power battery which makes the rings useless against the color yellow. The ring also has to be charged every 24 hours. Hal becomes the keeper of the battery and decides to call himself the "Green Lantern".

Hal first uses the oath to recharge his ring and he is off. Hal saves a plane from crashing only to find out three thugs used a "radiation-sender" to bring it down. Hal easily takes care of the thugs and rushes back to try and woo Carol Ferris. She informs him that she is his superior and their will be no romance between them.

Hal tries harder and harder to get somewhere with Carol, but nothing happens. Since Carol has an infatuation with the Green Lantern, Hal goes to the ball as the Lantern and dances with her, which eventually leads to a kiss. Hal goes after a runaway missile, but his ring has no power over it since the missile is yellow. Hal creates a giant net and catches the runaway missile, then goes after and catches the man who launched it. Hal (as Green Lantern) returns to goes Carol, who is angry because he left in the middle of their kiss.