John From Cincinnati on HBO

Attempting to conjure some courage, Mitch tracks down a reclusive 'chemist' in Mexico; Cissy heads up a citywide search team; Bill loses his feathered medium; Palaka's good-luck gift to Freddy ends up with Barry.

An ominous message from John strikes fear for Shaun's safety into the hearts of Imperial Beach denizens.

Linc's Stinkweed reign is challenged; Dwayne eyes Shaun's online future; Dr. Smith tends to an ailing Palaka; Ramon supervises the building of a shuffleboard court.

Butchie orchestrates a reunion between Shaun and Tina; John helps Bill and Cissy face up to their pasts.

Bill gets a strange mandate from Zippy; Tina lets the Yosts know she's back in town.

John gets roughed up by some thugs; Kai connects with Butchie; Vietnam Joe brings Dr. Smith a new patient; Shaun's adult-film-star mother Tina arrives in Imperial Beach.

A kiss from Zippy convinces Dr. Smith that a paranormal phenomenon has occurred among the Yosts. Bill interrogates interlopers outside the Yost house, including Steady Freddy and his sidekick Palaka. Kai, who works at the Yost surf shop, takes John to her trailer to see if he's a man of his word. Shamed by Cissy, a distraught Mitch is comforted by Cass, unaware of her connection to Linc.

After enlisting a young woman named Cass to infiltrate the Yost inner circle, Linc pays Mitch a personal visit, looking to sponsor Shaun and promising not to resort to the kind of 'bad boy' image tactics that corrupted Butchie. In the meantime, Butchie tries to get a line on John, with little success, other than that John shows amazing bathroom restraint and hails 'from Cincinnati.' Snug Harbor owner Barry has a change of heart about the motel's fate, then becomes convinced a room is haunted, unnerving Ramon. Mitch allows Shaun to compete in a Huntington surfing competition, with unexpected results. A greasy drug dealer named Steady Freddy arrives to harass Butchie, but changes his tune when bad news arrives.

Series premiere. The lives of three generations of surfers are upended by the appearance of a mysterious stranger.