Adorable Brandon Baker stars as Hawaii native Johnny Kapahala, a well-adjusted teen whose passion for surfing was cultivated by his legendary wave-riding grandfather, known throughout the islands as Johnny Tsunami (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagama). The younger Johnny's dad decides to move the family to Vermont -- which turns out to be Hawaii's polar opposite in more ways than the obvious one. Johnny experiences extreme culture shock among his new group of prep-school peers, and he struggles to find a niche in his new home. With the help of new friend Sam (Lee Thompson Young), Johnny tries out the closest thing Vermont has to a surfboard and discovers that he's just as good at snowboarding as he was at riding the waves. But his new hobby causes quite a stir among his snobby classmates, who sneeringly remind him that in this neck of the woods, your scholastic status comes with a pre-determined set of interests, and boarding is out for him because, well, "Academy kids ski, public-schoolers board." As he grapples with the repercussions of his actions -- not the least of which is his father's disappointment that he's not trying to fit in with his elitist peers -- Johnny must decide whether it's worth putting it all on the line to change history in his new hometown.