View - show predetermined result set prior to exposed filter
All you need to do is:


Create a Boolean field to mark highlights (Let's say field_highlights)
Add a views filter for field_highlight with the following detail:

2.1. Not exposed

2.2. Operation: Is one of

2.3. Options: Select both 'On' and 'Off'
Write a bit of magic code which:

3.1. Checks if the user has not used the exposed filters yet

3.2. Alters the options for our filter to only show 'On' values 


Last part sounds difficult? Actually it's not:

    &lt;?php

    /**
     * Implements hook_views_pre_view().
     *
     * Applys a custom filter if there is no filter applyed by user
     *
     */
    function YOURMODULE_views_pre_view(&amp;$view, &amp;$display_id, &amp;$args) {
        // Make sure we are altering the right view
        if ($view-&gt;name == 'YOUR_VIEW_NAME') {
            // Get the user input for exposed filters
            $user_input = $view-&gt;get_exposed_input();
            // Check if there is no user input 
            if (empty($user_input)) {
                // The filter name for selecting highlighted items
                $filter_name = 'field_highlighted_value'; // Figure the filter name by looking at the exported views
                // Getting the filter array
                $filter = $view-&gt;get_item($view-&gt;current_display, 'filter', $filter_name);
                // Setting the value to TRUE
                $filter['value'] = array(1=&gt;'1');
                // Saving the changes to the filter
                $view-&gt;set_item($view-&gt;current_display, 'filter', $filter_name, $filter);
            }
        }
    }