The year is 1978, school's out, and it's time for fun, Malibu-style—cruising, boozing, partying on the beach, and listening to the cheaply licensed Del Shannon classic "I Go To Pieces" over and over again. At least that's good enough for Michael Luther and James Daughton, the easily entertained protagonists of Malibu Beach. First seen leaving class on the last day of school, they almost immediately plunge into a cycle of beach-and-car partying, adding some make-out sessions to the mix once they make the acquaintance of party girl Susan Player and shy Kim Lankford. But life on the beach has its problems, too. For one, female beach-goers have to beware of a bikini-top-stealing dog whose antics initiate many scenes of topless running. Men, on the other hand, have to watch out for Stephen Oliver, who reprises his fondly remembered muscle-bound-lunkhead character Dugan from the 1976 vansploitation film The Van. "You may be The King, Presley, but Dugan's The Prince," Oliver tells a picture of Elvis Presley, which doesn't seem fooled by his false confidence. Rejected by teenage girls, who think he's too old, and by hot teacher Flora Plumb (sister of Eve Plumb), who thinks he's too stupid, Oliver walks around with a chip on his shoulder, picking fights like a bully out of a Charles Atlas ad. Fortunately, Malibu's the kind of place where, apart from the occasional flash-fire and mudslide, good vibes prevail. Local cops can be persuaded to look the other way with a little bit of grass, the surf's always up, and parents conveniently disappear in time for characters to lose their virginity. Eventually, Luther and Daughton even find a solution for their bully problem, initiating a swimming contest, then scaring him off with a fake shark. But even Oliver's feelings are spared when Plumb experiences a sudden change of heart and whisks the big lug off into the sunset, bikini-stealing dog in tow.
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