[1] The one-hour scripted drama is set in the Kansas City metropolitan area, and revolves around two teenagers who were switched at birth and grew up in very different environments: one in an affluent suburb, and the other in a working-class neighborhood.

It is revealed that the hospital mistakenly switched Bay at birth with Daphne Vasquez, who has been raised by her single mother Regina and grandmother Adriana in the low-income neighborhood of East Riverside, Missouri.

John learns to relate to his new-found daughter by coaching her deaf school's basketball team and employing her in the office of one of the local chain of car washes that he owns.

Bay is driven by a need to find her biological father, Angelo Sorrento, who left Regina shortly after Daphne went deaf.

[23] ABC Family promoted the series by launching an online game, Switched at Birth: Hunt for the Code one week before the premiere.

Bay, a graffiti artist, left her signature stencil image on ten different websites, and players searched for the picture and accompanying code to redeem sneak peeks and enter a drawing to win $4,000.

[24] Each weekday, ABCFamily.com posted two clues hinting at a site featuring the image, and instructed users to scan the code with a Microsoft Tag Reader for exclusive content.

The site's critics consensus reads, "Despite leaning on a tried-and-true premise, Switched at Birth proves to be an entertaining remix thanks to fresh writing and charming characters.