As Jack and Joan prepare for her first southern hemisphere Christmas by the beach, a reef dive goes catastrophically wrong, and Joan does all she can to save an injured diver. With a young woman's life in the balance, Joan and Jack discover the accident is really a case of sabotage. The mystery hits home for Jack, who secretly seeks out a woman from his past to make amends for his mistakes.

Jack reconnects with Elyse, the daughter of Rosemary, the bride Jack left at the altar. A surf lifesaving champion, Elyse believes someone tampered with a drug test, causing her to be banned from her sport just before the national championships.