In the summer of 1962, best friends Matt Johnson, Jack Barlow and Leroy “The Masochist” Smith arrive at a California beach at dawn. Matt is so hungover he can barely stand up straight, but Jack and Leroy think a round of surfing will be the best cure for him. After convincing a local boy to loan Matt his surfboard, Jack and Leroy drag their friend into the ocean. Matt complains until a wave comes; he climbs onto the board and surfs with great ease. Local surfing aficionado, Bear, runs a surf shop on the pier. As he works on a surfboard, he talks to a couple of young boys about a rare ocean swell that happens ever twenty years called the “Great Swell.” The last event was during the 1950s, and he swears the waves swelled as high as twenty feet. Meanwhile, Matt, Jack and Leroy go to a local diner, where they meet Sally, a waitress who has just moved to the area from Chicago, Illinois. As Jack flirts, Matt and Leroy start a food fight, and the owner throws the boys out. After the diner closes, Sally accepts Jack’s invitation to attend a party at his house. Later, at the house party, Jack’s mother, Mrs. Barlow, patiently tolerates the noise, but she stays upstairs as uninvited guests start a fight and destroy the house. Some days later, Matt; his girlfriend, Peggy Gordon; Jack; Leroy and Sally drive to Tijuana, Mexico. Once they arrive, Peggy announces that she is pregnant with Matt’s baby and intends to keep the child. Later that evening, the friends go to a strip club. When a man insults Peggy, Matt punches him and a fight ensues; but the friends escape before the police arrive. When they return to California, they find out that the beach pier has been condemned. Bear is devastated as he is forced to close his surf shop. Three years later, Jack is a lifeguard at the same beach and has recently received his military draft notice for service in the Vietnam War. The friends aren’t as close as they used to be. Jack throws Matt off the beach when Matt causes a car accident, stumbling drunk into the road. Meanwhile, Bear has opened another thriving surf shop business nearby and prepares for his upcoming wedding. Depressed, Matt enters Bear’s shop, which has sponsored Matt in local surfing contests. Now, however, Matt wants to quit the sport. He does not like being famous, and believes he is nothing more than a worthless drunk. Bear refuses to accept the young man’s resignation and convinces him to continue. At the wedding, Bear invites Jack to drink with the old group of friends, hoping to mend Jack and Matt’s strained relationship. Reluctant at first, Jack eventually joins and the friends enjoy the wedding. Weeks later, Matt, Jack, Leroy and their friend, Jim “Waxer” King, go to their military induction physicals. In an attempt to avoid military service, Matt fakes being crippled, Leroy pretends to be insane, and Waxer feigns homosexuality. Jack, however, does not resist induction. Matt and Leroy successfully avoid the draft and only Jack and Waxer become soldiers. Jack enjoys one last day of surfing and time with his friends before a tearful send off. Now in 1968, Matt attends Waxer’s funeral and is disappointed that no one else from the surfing community is there. Still with Peggy, Matt now owns a pool cleaning service. He takes Peggy and their daughter, Melissa, to the premiere of a surfing documentary that features old footage of him and he is embarrassed when no one in the audience recognizes him. The family later greets Jack as he returns home from Vietnam. As Matt and Jack surf together, Jack learns that Leroy has become a professional surfer in Hawaii and that Bear has fallen on hard times. Jack also finds out that his old girlfriend, Sally, has married another man. Later, Leroy returns home to join Jack and Matt at the local cemetery. Honoring Waxer, they reminisce about old times, then go their separate ways. In 1974, the Great Swell that Bear predicted finally arrives. Matt attempts to contact his friends to invite them to surf the Great Swell and finds that Bear is now a homeless drunk living underneath the pier. Nevertheless, Bear is full of excitement about the event and gives Matt the old surfboard he used to surf the last Great Swell. The next morning, a large crowd gathers at the beach, even though local authorities discourage surfing in the dangerous waters. Famous surfers, such as Gerry Lopez, are in the water, trying their luck at the huge waves. Matt arrives with Bear’s surfboard and is pleasantly surprised to see Jack and Leroy. The three friends decide to surf together one last time. As the crowd looks on with respect and admiration, Matt suddenly falls off his board and Jack and Leroy rush to save him. When they pull Matt to safety, a younger surfer returns Matt’s board, and compliments him on his talent. The trio then admires Lopez, the new king of surfing.