Ryan Atwood, a teen from the wrong side of the tracks, moves in with a wealthy family willing to give him a chance. But Ryan's arrival disturbs the status quo of the affluent, privileged community of Newport Beach, California.
High school seems like a distant memory to the young graduates, who have been thrust into adulthood after the death of their beloved friend. The Cohens struggle to keep Ryan focused on the future, fighting the forces that threaten to pull him back into his old life. Summer has left Orange County and is attending Brown University in Rhode Island, where she has reinvented herself as a left-leaning, tree-hugging activist. Meanwhile, Seth is lonely in the O.C. and working at a local comic book store. Kaitlin Cooper returns to the O.C. as the No. 1 troublemaker at The Harbor School. And Taylor Townsend is hiding out and speaking French in the O.C. after her mysterious romance in Paris.