A scruffy, but soulful delinquent gets tossed into the deep end of the flashy, cash-filled pool of the beautiful, the botoxed, the bling-bling-blessed. Meet Ryan Atwood, a 16-year-old brooding bad boy who's homeless and headed for juvie when his do-good lawyer Sandy Cohen opens his home, household, hearth, and heart to him. Home is a mansion; the household includes 16-year-old quirky-cute but friendless son Seth, hearth is the pool house that will be Ryan's crib-and heart? She's the poor-little-rich-girl next door, Marissa.