It's the first day of summer in Hawaii and tourist season is in full swing. The surf instructors at the Royal Hawaiian Surf Academy are getting together for their annual kick off meeting, and Kimo, the boss-man of Royal Hawaiian, gives the rundown while the boys joke around.
Casey, the not-so-sophisticated, single guy in the bunch, leaves early to snag some beverages, while Alex, the leader of the pack, goes surfing -- leaving the rest of the boys to instruct surfing classes. In the water, Alex has no problems, but on dry land he has one -- Tanya, his girlfriend.
Trying to get Tanya off of his mind and out of sight, Alex hits the dirt on an off-roading trip. But, with a car full of rowdy surfer boys, things do not go well. When the car hits a bump the wrong way, it flips over several times. One might think this could bring a crowd down, but not in Lahaina! Uninjured, the boys manage to flip the smashed-in vehicle right-side-up and drive it back into town.
After a brief surf session, Casey convinces Alex to go hang out with some new girls, but there is one problem... they crashed their ride! After getting the roof chopped off at the make-shift body shop, the boys meet up with Alex's mutual crush, Liko, and her friends. He watches her surf for a while, and then decides to join her. They guys talk the girls into going back to Lahaina for a barbeque, and then take them back to their pad. When Tanya sees Alex strolling up with Liko and three other girls on his arm, she gets upset, but he gets even more upset! Alex bashes in the company van and disappears.
The next morning at the surf academy, Kimo sees his van and finds out that his lead surf instructor is missing and suspected of paddling across a dangerous stretch of ocean. The coast guard is called and they search for Alex by foot, boat, and plane. Kimo is visibly upset and tries to pull it together while the search continues, and luckily it ends pretty soon thereafter when Alex is found paddling in the ocean.
After he gets back to land, Tanya tries to talk to him, but he brushes her off. Everyone else tries to give him hell, too, but Alex tells them all that he is a waterman and will be partaking in crazy water adventures from here on out, no matter what anyone tries to do about it.