Patrick Jane and team plunge into the quintessential California world of surfing when a high school girl's body washes up on a state beach. Ditch water in her lungs suggests she was drowned elsewhere and her body was dumped in the ocean as a cover-up. Since the victim was last seen with her four surfer friends at a beach bonfire, soon to be the site of a condo development, Jane surmises the teens know more than they're willing to admit. And when the condo construction site security guard is found murdered, with evidence proving he died the same night as the victim, Jane sets a mentalist trap to get the four friends to turn on each other and reveal the shocking truth of their collective guilt.