In 1987 a boy and his father sit in a diner. The boy, Shawn, keeps asking nicely for the cake he was promised for dessert, but Henry, his authoritarian father insists he describe all the hats in the room…without looking. After the boy brilliantly demonstrates his ability, and impresses the cute waitress, Henry grunts and says, “Not bad.” Showing how much he appreciates…doesn’t actually…his son.
Fast forward to the present and Shawn has found someone who does appreciate him. As he pulls her onto the couch with him, he glances at the TV and sees a news story about some stereos stolen from an electronics store and by watching the store clerk being interviewed figures out that it was an inside job and the clerk was behind it. He calls the police and gives them the tip, which is not easy when there’s a really cute girl nibbling on your neck. His public service completed, Shawn turns to more important matters. She must not have been that good, since we never see her again.
The next day, Shawn is called into the police station for his well-deserved reward. At least, that’s what he thinks, but when two detectives (who he realizes are sleeping together) take him into an interrogation room, it becomes clear they think he was in on it. The first, Detective Lassiter, who makes Henry look positively lenient, demands to know how Shawn knew, thinking his information was so good, it could only have come from the inside. Shawn is about to walk out, but the threat of arrest forces him to come up with something fast. One of the officers is highly superstitious and he plays on that by claiming he’s a psychic. He then reveals the detectives’ relationship, the superstitious officer has been hiring mediums to contact her deceased grandmother and the other officer has been taking dance lessons for his upcoming wedding.
Everyone is impressed, except Lassiter, and Shawn is set loose to claim his just reward. Before he leaves, however, he is stopped by the interim police chief. She noticed him and wants his help with a case. Shawn agrees to a pro-bono case as a trial run.
He then goes to his best friend, Burton “Gus” Guster, who, despite being behind on work, is playing video games in his office. Shawn tells him they have the chance to live their dream of being detectives, and explains that the police have given him an actual case. Gus decides to be stubborn, until Shawn tells him there will be forensics there. Gus finally agrees and drives the two over to a very impressive looking house where the son was kidnapped from.
Shawn is drawn to the pictures of the family’s extremely attractive daughter, and while he drinks them in, she suddenly appears on the stairs behind him. An embarrassed Shawn introduces himself as the police’s consulting psychic. She is suitably impressed but soon after her father, who looks remarkably like the general from Stargate SG-1, comes in, looking shaken.
Later, Shawn and Gus start running down some leads. On the way, they are pulled over for speeding, but Shawn gets out of it by slipping one of his father’s old police cards to the officer, and in the process finds out his dad has been back in Santa Barbara for over a year now.Eventually they find a cabin in the woods with a dog, more importantly, the son’s dog. Gus wants to tell the police, but Shawn has a better idea. He finds Lassiter and his lover about to have lunch. Lassie blows him off, but not before Shawn warns him not to eat the chicken. Inside, Lassie notices the cook start sneezing, right over the chicken. He comes out to see what Shawn wants.
Using his “visions”, Shawn leads the detectives up to the cabin to find…two corpses. Gus quickly goes outside and starts screaming. From the look of things, the son’s partner got in a fight with his partner who killed him then killed himself. As far as police are concerned its case closed, but Shawn knows better. He tries to persuade the chief to continue investigating, but she won’t have any of it, other than agreeing to give him future cases.
Shawn goes to see his dad, who is about to head to lunch but lets Shawn come along. In the old diner, Shawn tells him about his new gig as psychic detective. Henry is skeptical, outright incredulous actually, and forces Shawn to describe the hats in the room to prove he still has it. Shawn once again performs brilliantly and Henry is, once again, unjustifiably reserved.
Later, Shawn and Gus begin tailing the girl from earlier, and notice she has a black bag that looks like it could contain stacks of bills. They follow her to an alley where she hands it over to a shifty-looking guy, or was about to before Shawn decided to heroically intervene. He grabs the bag and races back to the car…which Gus locked when he got out. The girl and the guy corner them and Shawn opens the bag to find…old clothes? He then realizes the guy works at a thrift store. They take the bag back and leave, but Shawn still wants it. He convinces Gus to distract the scary guy, while Shawn grabs the bag and runs. Gus does, for a bit, then points at Shawn and runs. Fortunately, they both escape.
Back at Gus’ office, Shawn examines the bag and finds indentations in the bottom, which are just the right size and shape for dollar bills. He figures this bag could have easily held five million dollars. Which means a ransom was paid.
Shawn and Gus go back to the manor to talk to the girl, at least that’s what Shawn told Gus. He’s really here to talk to her father. He then tells how there was actually a ransom and that he followed it at first, but before he could make the drop, he sees his son’s friend’s car and realizes that they’re in on it together. He goes to the cabin, and finds his son there. A fight starts, and ends when his son is thrown down, hitting his head on the corner of a table, killing him. The son’s friend comes in and the general overpowers him too…then shoots him and tries to make it look like a suicide. The man in incensed and has them thrown out of the house. Shawn and Gus sit in the car staring at it, until Shawn calls the police and informs them of two trespassers on the property.
When the police arrive, Shawn and Gus are cuffed and about to be lead away, but Shawn suddenly starts having another “vision.” The dog saw the murderer, it was someone he knew, and bit him. He starts yelling for them to check his arm. He bristles and declares that no one will be checking anything. The chief starts wondering why, and threatens to get a warrant if she has to. He breaks down and starts trying to explain it was an accident. The police cart him off, and Gus demands to be let out of his cuffs.
The next day, Shawn shows Gus their new detective agency, which he has called “Psych.” Gus isn’t sure about the name, but Shawn explains that the best way to convince people they’re not lying is to tell them they’re lying. Besides, Shawn put Gus’ name on the lease as well, so they have at least six-months before they can get out without paying a penalty.
