After his wife’s sudden death, George Turner moves his family from Sydney to the small town of Weld in New Zealand. But George’s plans for a fresh start don’t go as smoothly as he had hoped.

George’s latest column causes quite a stir among the residents of Weld after he calls it a “dead-end town.” Shay and Arlo also feel the heat from their dad’s article and decide it’s time to stand up to their schoolmates.

A rumor is going around Weld about Laura’s death, and George tries to track down how it started. Shay and Arlo believe their father is overreacting when he complains about the school bus driver’s recklessness behind the wheel.

Shay warns her father about the Weld women’s interest in him, and George soon becomes hyper-vigilant around the ladies. But at the museum’s annual wine-and-cheese fundraiser, the locals’ behavior gets a bit out of control.

The Turners attempt to commemorate Laura’s birthday but are disrupted by the discovery that their house could collapse at any moment. Then George runs into his teen surfing nemesis, Dean “The Orca” Marshall, whom George blames for his current surfing troubles.

George throws himself into the investigation of a statue’s missing head. But while George gets ever closer to discovering the truth, he fails to notice Shay’s troublesome involvement with Ike.