<P> The series follows the lives of siblings Kevin , Kate , and Randall ( known as the `` Big Three '' ) , and their parents Jack and Rebecca Pearson . It takes place in the present and using flashbacks , at various times in the past . Kevin and Kate are the two surviving members of a triplet pregnancy , born six weeks premature on Jack 's 36th birthday in 1980 ; their brother is stillborn . Believing they were meant to have three children , Jack and Rebecca , who are white , decide to adopt Randall , a black child born the same day and brought to the same hospital after his biological father abandoned him at a fire station . Jack dies when his children are 17 . </P>
<P> The series follows the lives of siblings Kevin , Kate , and Randall ( known as the `` Big Three '' ) , and their parents Jack and Rebecca Pearson . It takes place in the present and using flashbacks , at various times in the past . Kevin and Kate are the two surviving members of a triplet pregnancy , born six weeks premature on Jack 's 36th birthday in 1980 ; their brother is stillborn . Believing they were meant to have three children , Jack and Rebecca , who are white , decide to adopt Randall , a black child born the same day and brought to the same hospital after his biological father abandoned him at a fire station . Jack dies when his children are 17 . </P>
what is the triplets birthday in this is us
what is the triplets birthday in this is us
Jack 's 36th birthday in 1980
Jack 's 36th birthday in 1980