A dramatic plane crash finds Hobie, Gayle (his mother), Ken (her fiance), and the pilot trapped in the rapidly flooding fuselage beneath the sea. At the same time, Mitch and the Baywatch lifeguards mount a massive rescue effort to save the trapped passengers and crew. Meanwhile, Matt's father takes back Matt's motorcycle, and Jackie has problems with the building renovation for her new business, Summer Place.

Cort returns to Baywatch to recertify as a lifeguard and rekindles his relationship with former love, C.J. She is worried something is wrong with his eyes, as evidenced when he bungles a simple rescue by bumping into many beachgoers. Mitch persuades Cort to see an eye doctor, who discovers he has a severe disease that will eventually leave him blind. Cort leaves Baywatch and C.J. for good.

Hobie and Mitch visit a beachside attraction where a very tall man works as a "feral man" to scare customers. Hobie befriends the man and discovers he is a depressed immigrant with no family, who carves exceptional pelicans from wood. His extra-large size is a challenge for the Baywatch crew when he falls into the water accidentally.