Close friends Jody Wallis (Fabian), Steamer Lane (Tab Hunter) and Chase Colton (Peter Brown) are three ardent surfers who travel to Oahu Island to ride the world's biggest waves. In Hawaii, they meet three girls whose impact on them is as forceful as the pounding surf. While blonde coed Brie Matthews (Shelley Fabares) convinces Jody he can be more than a surf bum, Lily Kalua's (Susan Hart) romance with Steamer hits rough seas because her mother, a New Englander deserted by her Hawaiian surfer-husband, despises surfers. And as for Augie (Barbara Eden), she persuades Chase, the somewhat stuffy scion of a banking family, that life is meant to be enjoyed to the fullest. Events reach an exciting climax when Chase risks everything to make a Hawaiian legend come true with a perilous 80-foot dive into a rocky pool that will "bring in the big waves." As the 40-footers roll in, Jody, Steamer and Chase go head to head against the world's best surfers as their girls watch and family differences dissolve in the breathtaking excitement of the competition and its outcome.