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Ryan Atwood is a troubled, 16-year-old kid living in the rough, crime-ridden neighborhood of Chino located in San Bernadino, California, who gets thrown out of his own house by his alcoholic and neglectful mother and her abusive, alcoholic boyfriend after Ryan gets into trouble with the law when his self-destructive older brother, Trey, implicates him in the theft of a car. Ryan is appointed, Sanford ‘Sandy’ Cohen, a public defender, who takes the homeless youth to his house in the posh and picturesque neighborhood of Newport Beach, Orange County, (the OC) and lets …
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When his mother disappears and faced with the prospect of life in a group home, Ryan decides to run away from Newport, but Seth and Marissa convince him to stay and hide in a vacant building project. Meanwhile, Jimmy discusses his recent financial woes with Kirsten, and she offers a solution. After the jealous Luke witnesses a close encounter between Marissa and Ryan, he confronts Ryan and a fight breaks loose in the house where their quarrel accidentally starts a fire. Ryan nearly dies in the flames, until surprisingly Luke returns and saves Ryan's life, which …
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Ryan has a difficult stay in a Juvenile Hall prison for the arson charge. Seth makes Kirsten aware of his anger over Ryan's situation, and Kirsten makes a compromise to bail Ryan out of jail to stay with them, temporary. Later, Ryan's mother, Dawn, makes a surprise visit to Newport, and things don't go quite as she and Ryan may have planned due to her constant drinking. Meanwhile, the monetary secret involving Julie, Jimmy, Kirsten and Sandy comes to a head when Sandy finds out of Jimmy's financial problems about the money investments he lost and unwisely ‘borrowed’ …
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During rehearsals for Newport Beach's annual Cotillion Ball, Ryan continues to pursue Marissa and asks her to be his dancing partner, while a continuing jealous Luke tries to break them up. Seth as eyes for the new girl in town, Anna Stern, but becomes torn over his feelings for Summer Roberts, the outgoing socialite he's had a crush on for years. Meanwhile, Sandy becomes upset over Kristen's loan to Jimmy for his financial problems which finally come to light at the ball when one business client decks him in the face after learning that Jimmy lost all of their money.
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Ryan takes a job at the Crab Shack diner where a co-worker, named Donnie, might mean bad news for the Newport kids when he takes Ryan and Seth out to party queen Holly Fischer's parties where drugs and alcohol flow freely. Ryan asks Marissa out on a date, and when Luke again tries to intervene, Donnie decides to take matters in his own hands when he tries to starve off Luke… with a gun. Meanwhile, Sandy attempts to help Jimmy sort out his life, and gives him some bad news that be may go to jail for his unauthorized loans to cover his tracks. Also, Julie reveals a …
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Kirsten's uptight father, Caleb Nichol, comes for a visit along with his new girlfriend, Gabrielle, a 24-year-old model. Caleb does not hesitate to speak his mind and immediately angers both Sandy and Ryan, and browbeats Seth, with constant criticism with their backgrounds, while Gabrielle makes a move on Ryan. Kirsten finds her job at Caleb's company, Newport Group, in jeopardy, while Sandy considers making a change. Meanwhile, Luke approaches Marissa and tells her that he wants a second chance with her, much to Ryan's disappointment. Also, Summer makes the moves on …
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Ryan, Seth, Marissa and Summer plan an end-of-summer trip down to Tijuana, Mexico (aka: the TJ). Luke wants to tag along with them to try to get back together with Marissa, but she later changes her mind about him when she catches Luke making the moves on Holly Fischer. Back in Newport, Jimmy has plans of his own to get out of his financial and legal problems, which don't sit well with Marissa or Julie. Sandy gets a new job at a large prestigious law firm, which Kirsten can't understand why.
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While Marissa is in a hospital in Newport recovering from her near-fatal drug overdose in Mexico, Julie unfairly blames Ryan for her condition and forbids him from seeing Marissa, who does not appreciate the help. Meanwhile, Sandy starts his new job, but finds himself surprised by the case work. Kirsten finds herself surprised by Sandy's new co-worker, the attractive Rachel. Also, Ryan enrolls at his new school, with conditions after his past life in Chino is revealed. Ryan and Sandy then stage an intervention for Julie about her handling of everything in which she …
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At the opening day of the new school year, Ryan doesn't feel like he fits in at his new school of Harbor High, and Luke doesn't make the situation any better when he and his jock friends continue to bully and harass both him and Seth, who does like being at school any more than Ryan. Meanwhile, Sandy accepts a case at his new job, a case that will test his relationship with Kirsten and her father Caleb. Anna and Seth hatch a plan to make Seth feel better with his current situation. Also, Ryan and Luke confront Marissa and force her to choose one of them.
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Having chose Ryan over Luke, Marissa wants to make plans for their first romantic date together, while Ryan does not know how to behave for his first date with Marissa. Seth takes matters into his own hands involving getting to like Summer, but gets taken in with Anna whom also develops feelings for him too. Meanwhile, Kristen finds Caleb with another woman, that being Julie Cooper, while Sandy continues to resist temptation with his co-worker Rachel.
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On Thanksgiving Day, Ryan ventures to his hometown in Chino to help his imprisoned brother, Trey, with some business he has, while Marissa tags along with Ryan to get a look at the neighborhood where he was born and raised, but it brings out some bad situations and unpleasant trips down memory lane for Ryan. Back in Newport, Kristen invites Caleb and Julie over for Thanksgiving dinner where Seth takes the player role of playing both Summer and Anna. But he does not play it well, leading to both of the girls running into each other and learning about Seth's two-timing …
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Ryan learns more about Luke when they're paired for a school science project which is that Luke isn't the macho tough guy he puts out to his friends, but he is quite a nice person with a perfect home life. But things take a sudden turn when Ryan and Luke stumble upon a secret of Luke's father's homosexuality. The next day, the news of Luke's father is the talk of the whole school and the town resulting in negative reactions to Luke from his friends, in which he blames Ryan who denies telling anyone about his father being gay. Meanwhile, Kristen continues to avoid …
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Ryan is officially introduced to the bi-religious holiday of ‘Chrismukkah’, thanks to Seth who has set this up for his parents; the Catholic Kristin and the Jewish Sandy. At the same time, Seth insists he has two Godly forces helping him as he continues to play both Summer and Anna by claiming he has chosen the other. Meanwhile, Marissa slides more into depression and debauchery over her family life problems and gets arrested for shoplifting with Ryan. It gets worse when she gets drunk at Seth's ‘Chrismukkah’ party and nearly gets arrested for drunk driving while Ryan…
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Kirsten's outgoing and spoiled younger sister Hailey Nichol, notorious for not doing anything with her life, returns home and asks to stay for New Year's Eve. Although getting along fine with everyone, she shows her true colors when she throws a destructive New Year's Eve party at the house when Sandy and Kristen are out and locks both Ryan and Seth in the guest house. Meanwhile, Sandy and Kirsten get lost while traveling to a restaurant for dinner, and, thinking they're in a rut, find themselves out of their environment at a swingers house party. The mysterious …
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Hailey discovers that she isn't welcome into the Cohn household as much as she thought due to her continuing irresponsible and brash lifestyle and personality leading to a fight with Kristen and Sandy over her living arrangements. Meanwhile, Oliver continues to charm Marissa and throws his weight around by inviting her, Ryan, Seth, Summer, Anna and Luke to a rock concert where the band Rooney is playing. There, Luke makes some new friends with the band fans, while Seth and Anna debate on telling Summer about their newfound romantic status. But trouble brews for Ryan …
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Oliver plans a new trip for the group by inviting them to Palm Springs for the weekend to play golf and travel around. But things don't go well for everyone, except for Oliver when his erratic behavior begins showing itself to Ryan and Luke, but Marissa brushes it off as just playful behavior. But when Ryan tries to tell Marissa that Oliver is not what he appears to be, he gets left out in the cold. Summer tries to plant herself into a “friendship” with Seth and Anna leading to a competition of wills over both of them. Meanwhile in Newport, Jimmy and Sandy decide to …
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Ryan continues to become suspicious of Oliver when he suddenly transfers to Harbor High and begins making plans of his own with Marissa. But Ryan's attempts to try to expose Oliver of the person that he is, gets met with negative approval from everyone, leading to a familiar situation. Summer shows off her new boyfriend, Danny, to Seth and Anna who correctly think that Summer is just showing off to satisfy her own ego. Meanwhile, Sandy and Jimmy prepare to sign the lease papers to build their own seafood restaurant, the Lighthouse. But Jimmy doesn't know if he's ready…
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Ryan finds himself truly out in the cold when he's suspended from school, shunned by Marissa, and even scrutinized by the Cohens, all of whom refuse to believe Ryan's claims that that Oliver is a dangerous sociopath and obsessed with Marissa. Ironically, the only person who believes Ryan is Luke, who agrees to help Ryan make a background check on Oliver to find any dirt on him. But when Luke reveals evidence to Marissa, and then Sandy, that some of Oliver's references from his old school are false, they refuse to believe Luke, especially after learning that he's been …
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On Valentine's Day, everyone is preparing for the Valentine's singles benefit dance. Luke has a new crush: that being Marissa's mother Julie. Meanwhile, Sandy gives Seth some sex advice over his dating of Summer. Theresa Diaz, an old friend Ryan's, shows up in town as part of the catering services for the benefit, which forces Marissa to lay her feelings on the table that her breakup with Ryan may have been a mistake. Also, Seth and Summer take their friendship to another level.
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Ryan and Marissa begins their lives as “just friends” in the aftermath of everything that has happened. But they soon find out that it is not as easy as it looks. Things take another turn when Ryan's former flame, Theresa Diaz, show up in Newport to work as a waitress for a special gathering and wants to try to reconcile with him. Meanwhile, Julie and Luke begin having a passionate affair behind everyones backs, while Seth and Summer decide to declare their love for each other.
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When Anna announces that she is leaving Newport to go back to her home in Pittsburgh, Seth feels guilt-ridden for he way he treated her. Meanwhile, trouble brews for both Caleb and Kristen at the Newport Group over their legal funds, and Sandy tries to help them out. Luke finds that his secret romance with Julie is getting harder to keep a secret. Also, Theresa brings a lot of trouble for herself and Ryan from Chino when her boyfriend, Eddie, shows up, making Ryan slightly jealous and worried about Theresa's well being.
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When Marissa and Summer run into Grady Bridges, the star of Summer's favorite TV series “The Valley”, he invites them and their friends to a party in Los Angeles and they accept. Meanwhile, Ryan and Seth discover the romantic connection between Luke and Marissa's mother in which Ryan persuades Luke to break it off before Marissa finds out. During the L.A. party, Grady tries to woo Summer away from Seth, who gets an eyeful of a wealthy socialite lady, while Ryan and Marissa run into Hailey Nichol whom is now working as a stripper and they call upon Jimmy for help. Back…
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Sandy's overbearing and obnoxious mother, Sofia “the Nana” Cohen, arrives in Newport Beach to celebrate Passover, but she also brings not only her unattainable attitude, but some bad news that she's dying from cancer. Meanwhile, Ryan searches for Marissa who has gone missing after inadvertently learning about her mother and Luke, and Ryan finds her in the most unexpected of places: at Theresa's house in Chino. Also, Summer tries to impress the Nana by knowing the traditions of Judeaisum, while Jimmy and Hailey take a step forward with their own newfound romance.
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Jimmy and Sandy run into a roadblock in their effort to re-open the Balboa Lighthouse restaurant when some investors withdraw their funds and it's revealed they they were Jimmy's former business clients whom he lost all of their money. Meanwhile, Summer and Seth take it upon themselves to finally make Marissa feel more at home at Jimmy's apartment. Things take another when when Caleb makes a marriage proposal to Julie, which sparks anger and a feeling of betrayal for Luke who gets behind the wheel of his car and has a near-fatal accident. Also, Marissa, and Sandy and …
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Everyone is still reacting to the surprise engagement of Julie and Caleb. Kirsten is shocked, and a little burdened to find she's been asked to be Julie's Maid of Honor. Kirsten and Marissa end up in charge of throwing Julie's wedding shower, and Marissa invites an unwanted guest: Julie's estranged sister whom does not approve of her upcoming wedding whom she suspects that it's purely for money. Meanwhile, Theresa calls Sandy for help when she runs away from Chino and tries to avoid Ryan. Jimmy and Hailey continue their romance, and Seth awkwardly meets Summer's …
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The Cohen men, along with Ryan and Caleb set out to Las Vegas for a bachelor party. Meanwhile, the girls are having fun with their own adventures.
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Julie and Caleb marry, and Marissa moves into their new mansion. Meanwhile Theresa asks Ryan to move to Chino with her to look after the yet to be born baby. Upon finding out about Ryan leaving, Seth decides to leave via his yacht abandoning Summer and his parents.