Plot
A cold open shows Trey Atwood (Bradley Stryker) and his brother Ryan stealing a car. The police chase and arrest the boys, resulting in a prison term for Trey and a short stay in juvenile hall for the underage Ryan. A conversation between Ryan and his public defender, Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher), establishes Ryan as a smart boy with a rough upbringing; he has three truancies and two suspensions, but his SAT I scores are in the ninety-eighth percentile. When Ryan's mother, Dawn (Daphne Ashbrook), collects Ryan, Sandy gives his business card to the boy. At home in Chino, Dawn asks Ryan to leave, and her boyfriend, A.J. (Ron Del Barrio), expels him from the house. Standing at a payphone with nowhere to go, Ryan calls Sandy for help. As Sandy drives Ryan to his house in Newport Beach, the opening credits and the theme tune play—unlike the other episodes, there is no title sequence.
While Sandy tries to convince his wife, Kirsten (Kelly Rowan) to allow Ryan to stay in the pool house for a night, Ryan meets the girl next door, Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton). When her boyfriend Luke (Chris Carmack) picks her up, Marissa invites Ryan to attend a fashion show fundraiser the following night. On a sailing trip the next day, the Cohens' son, Seth (Adam Brody) reveals to Ryan that he has a crush on Summer (Rachel Bilson) and would like to sail to Tahiti with her, but that she never pays him any attention. Later, Marissa leaves for the fashion show with her mother Julie (Melinda Clarke), her father Jimmy (Tate Donovan), and her younger sister Kaitlin (Shailene Woodley). The Cohens and Ryan also attend the show.
Summer invites Ryan to a party after the show, and Ryan convinces Seth to join him. For the first time, Seth is introduced to the sex-, drug-, and alcohol-fueled side of Newport. He experiences the wildness of a party for the first time, while Ryan flirts with Marissa. Luke takes a girl to the beach. Later at the party, Ryan rebuffs an intoxicated Summer, but Seth misinterprets the encounter and reveals Ryan's real background. Seth walks down the beach, and is bullied by a group of water polo players that includes Luke. Ryan defends Seth by punching Luke, but Luke's friends intervene and beat up Ryan and Seth. After returning to the Cohens, Ryan sees that Marissa's friends left her passed out on her drive; he carries her to the Cohens' pool house to sleep. When Kirsten finds Seth and Ryan asleep in the pool house the next morning, she is unhappy with Ryan's new influence and insists to Sandy that Ryan leaves. Sandy drives Ryan back to Chino, but when they find his home empty, they return to Newport.
Read more about this topic: Premiere (The O.C.)
Famous quotes containing the word plot:
“We have defined a story as a narrative of events arranged in their time-sequence. A plot is also a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality. “The king died and then the queen died” is a story. “The king died, and then the queen died of grief” is a plot. The time sequence is preserved, but the sense of causality overshadows it.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)
“Ends in themselves, my letters plot no change;
They carry nothing dutiable; they won’t
Aspire, astound, establish or estrange.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“But, when to Sin our byast Nature leans,
The careful Devil is still at hand with means;
And providently Pimps for ill desires:
The Good Old Cause, reviv’d, a Plot requires,
Plots, true or false, are necessary things,
To raise up Common-wealths and ruine Kings.”
—John Dryden (1631–1700)