While rowing out in the ocean, Mitch rescues an underwater photographer, named Linda, floating on some wreckage. Linda's somewhat disjointed, frantic story about something attacking her in an underwater cave which killed her partner and destroyed her boat is misconstructed by Kay Morgan, an ambitious, publicity seeking newspaper reporter, who creates a media frenzy by starting rumors about a "creature in the bay." Harvey Miller, the new lifeguard and prankster, benefits from the events by selling undersea creature T-shirts. Meanwhile, Shauni rescues a young girl from drowning and soon becomes compelled to rescue the girl, her brother and their mother from the life they live in the slums of South-Central L.A., much to Eddie's chagrin. While Shauni deals with her possessive father who disapproves of her lifeguard job, Mitch also pressures Captain Thorp to ask for funding for new advanced motorboats, called Scarabs, for the team.
