Shawn and Gus receive a mysterious email asking them to come to a Cinnamon Festival in Dual Spires, a town so small it's written in parenthesis on the map. After meeting many of the colorful residents, including Robert and Michelle Barker who run the local diner and Sheriff Johnson, who questions how they heard about the Festival since they deliberately keep it simple in their town, they make their way to the square where the Festival is being held. But just after eighteen-year-old Randy is crowned Cinnamon King, Jack, a weeping teenager on a bike crashes the festivities and whispers upsetting news to the Sheriff. Robert and Michelle fear the worst has come true - their missing niece Paula has been found dead. Jack leads them all to the body, where Doc Gooden suspects she took her usual night swim and hit her head on a rock. Just then, Shawn receives another mysterious email suggesting it was murder.

After a criminal named Sergei Czarsky has his court case thrown out because of a critical error Shawn made while investigating him, all of SBPD is furious with Shawn. When Internal Affairs makes it a point to hold SBPD accountable for their mistake, everyone's job is in jeopardy. Shawn plays it off like it's no big deal, but Gus and Henry see otherwise. Vick then places Shawn on suspension, and makes the difficult decision to fire Henry. As a result, Henry and Shawn have a huge falling out that subsequently causes Shawn to have a series of "It's A Wonderful Life"-type dream sequences in which Shawn sees what life would have been like for our characters had he never come back to Santa Barbara.