Spring - 1974. After inheriting his grandmother's beach house in the laid-back artists' colony of Sunset Cove, 28-year-old Alex Morgan has lived there alone. Intent on making his name as an artist, he planned to spend his days on the South Californian coast painting. But, two barefoot summers of white sand and turquoise waves cloistered by rocky cliffs later, he's spending more time working as a lifeguard to buy art materials and patch up the cottage than painting. Losing faith in his talent, he wonders if yet another summer will slip by in a haze of martinis, surfing, and sexual frustration.

All that changes, however, when on his morning jog along the beach he spots a guy climbing the cove's crumbling cliffs. Fearing the guy missed seeing the 'DANGER' sign or, worse, is venturing to the summit with a darker intent, Alex's lifeguard instinct kicks in. Barefoot, he goes up in pursuit of a stranger in peril.

The enigmatic young man Alex finds on the cliff's edge is Rick Stradman, son of a Hollywood movie producer, who despite his privileged background carries his own burden of insecurities and loneliness. And after Rick inveigles his way into his beach house, and then his bed, Rick's alluring presence restores Alex's self-belief and releases his repressed sexuality in a sensual summer of self-discovery.