The episode begins with Emma watching a video about Surfer's Paradise resort while packing her clothes as she gets ready to head to the legendary surf spot. Later that day, we meet Reef on the boardwalk. Reef is talking to his buddy back home who has a sucky job and is not with Reef since he has to take summer school. Fin is then talking to her sister about how all she has to do this summer is to teach tourists how to surf and how she can't wait for Gromfest. Emma is there, also on her iPhone thanking her mom for letting her come, so that she may become a true surfer. Then a messed-up tour bus that looks like a purple Orca (AKA killer whale) comes along and a matching mascot comes out and dances. The three newcomers realize that the cheesy bus is their ride to go to the resort they are working at. On the bus, we meet the bus driver, known as the Kahuna, who drives the bus for people who need it at the resort. The Kahuna assures the groms that they are about to surf the best waves in Canada. Meanwhile, in the Penthouse at the resort, is where Lo comes in. Lo's older brother, Ty, comes into the place and finds out that Lo threw a massive party while their parents and younger brother were out of town—the party got so out-of-hand that the partygoers ended up trashing basically the entire hotel (including the penthouse) and attracted the attention of a TV-news crew, who describe Lo's party as "an end-of-the-school-year party gone wrong."
The three newcomers make it to their destination, Surfer's Paradise Ridgemount Resort, which turns out to be a kooky tourist trap. At the hotel, the group meets Broseph, who was sleeping in the fountain from the party the night before. He immediately notices Emma and Fin and quickly introduces himself. The three newcomers find out about the party from the night before from Johnny, the "front desk guy" of the resort. After Johnny asks them what they think of the hotel, Emma tries being polite by admitting that it wasn't quite what she was expecting, but Fin bluntly points out how lame and cheesy everything looks — Johnny's actually very understanding of this and figures that Fin (and the others) must've seen the brochure from the previous summer. He elaborates by explaining how, last fall, corporate decided to turn all the hotels in the Ridgemount Resorts-chain into "themed hotels" — but Johnny assures them that Surfer's Paradise still has the best surfing in Canada. Upon seeing Broseph, Johnny (who apparently knows him) questions why he's there — Broseph claimed that he needed a "change of scenery" from the surf shop that his mom runs and claims that he managed to score a summer job at the hotel as a bellhop.
The gang then meets Andrew Baumer (who nearly everyone calls "Bummer" behind his back), the day manager of the resort. He immediately has the gang go clean out the pool from the party after learning from Johnny that they're going to be part of the summer staff this year. While cleaning out the hotel's main pool, Johnny then has to explain resort life to the groms, that if something sick happens, the workers are stuck cleaning the mess instead of surfing in the afternoon. During the middle of cleaning, Emma asks where Fin and Reef are going to be working within the hotel, explaining that she'll be working as a waitress in the Pirate Ship—Reef reveals that he's the hotel's new surfing instructor. Fin thinks she has that job and claims that there's a mistake. Johnny radios Bummer to check if it is true—as it turns out, Fin's going to be working at the hotel as part of the housekeeping staff, much to her displeasure, especially since she doesn't even clean her own room at home. Reef and Fin then get into a fight about surfing skills and the genders who ride the boards. The fight's broken up by Johnny who tells them they have to move on to setting up the new deck chairs. Emma asks what happened to the old ones and Johnny says that the partygoers last night had a huge bonfire on the beach and ran out of firewood. From up in the Penthouse, the new gang is being watched by Lo, who tells her older brother that everything's being taken care of. Ty doesn't believe so and goes to get in a quick surf session before the rest of the summer staff arrives.
The group cleans up the resort. During this time, Reef asks Johnny if he thinks Fin is into him. She is giving him a angry scowl, which Johnny interprets as a "no"; as Fin's scowl only gets more intense while staring at Reef, Johnny tells him that "that's not the face of someone that's into you". After cleaning up the resort and the golf course, they finally make it to the staff house, which Johnny explains is going to be their home for the summer. It turns out to be a dump, but the upside being that is has easy access to the beach (and Reef and Broseph like that there's a TV and couches on the porch). There they meet No Pants Lance and Ripper, returning staff. Ripper says that most likely one of them is going to be fired on the first day, which starts another fight between Fin and Reef, which is yet again broken by Johnny by telling them which rooms they are staying in. Broseph and Reef are rooming with Johnny, Fin is in her room solo (which has three beds), and Emma has a crabby roommate and a room that smells like skunk. Emma then hears a scream from close by, and a visibly shaken Kelly asks Johnny to call for hotel maintenance as the toilet in the staff house bathroom has overflowed.
On the porch they complain that the place isn't that well kept. This is interrupted when Emma notices that the couches on the porch smell like surf wax, and Reef's impressed with how much Emma seems to love surfing—but then Emma makes a shocking confession: she's never actually gone surfing before coming to Surfer's Paradise. The rest of the group is horrified to hear this and Ripper states that they have to get Emma to the beach and teach her how to surf as soon as possible—Reef jumps at the chance to teach someone how to suf, but before he (or Fin, who offers to teach Emma herself) can do so, Bummer calls the new summer staff in and says that it's time for them to start their job training.
