The band gets their first gig, playing for a girl that Matt has a bit of a crush on- Randi Jo. The date of the gig is the same day that Matt's dad is planning on taking a family trip to the Grand Canyon. The band plans to get the date of the tickets switched by posing as Van Halen. - The band also neglects to let Sly in as manager of the band.
Matt is determined to win the Battle of the Bands contest. The California Dreams are up against their biggest competition- Bradley and the Billionaires. Sly's idea of how to win the contest? One of the judges, Angela, likes Matt. All Matt needs to do is date her to swing the vote. Tony also thinks about getting an earring, until Tiffani tells him how they pierce an ear.
Sharkey leaves on a vacation and leaves Tony in charge. Sly, the wannabe money-maker that he is, talks Sharkey into throwing a big Hawaiian-style part at Sharkey's, complete with a cover charge for every partier there. Sly books the band to play the party. Trouble is, Matt has already promised his crush, Randi Jo, that they will perform that same night at her sister, Debbie's, wedding. The party can't be cancelled- Sly has already used some of Sharkey's money for promoting the event. Matt can't cancel on Randi Jo because he doesn't want to disappoint her.
Sly and Tony decide to listen in on Jenny's slumber party and hears Jenny talking about her dream guy. Sly decides to try and change his personality to be the man of Jenny's dreams. While Sly hits on Jenny, Tony's busy with her friend Jasmine. Tiffani writes lyrics to a song, but Matt just can't come out and tell her that they aren't good.
Matt's friend from music camp, Teddy, comes to visit. Matt, expecting the old overweight Teddy, is shocked when Teddy turns to look much different than he did at music camp. Jenny and Tiffani take an instant liking to Teddy, causing a problem between the two of them. Now, Matt's job is to help mend the girls friendship and stop the fight over Teddy. During this fiasco, Sly gets the band a chance to play at Sharkey's.
After playing at Sharkey's, the band's amp blows out and Tony meets rich Kimberly Blanchard. She invites him to come meet her parents at brunch. When Kimberly leaves the room, her father offers to replace the bands amp on one condition: Tony stops dating Kimberly. Tony deals with the problem of how to tell Kimberly about the proposition that her father made to him. While this is going on, Sly is busy getting the band another gig- recording the jingle for an Uncle Slappy's Root Beer commercial.
Jenny and Tiffani create a fake supermodel from Paris named Monique to show Sly and Tony how shallow they are. The plan ends up backfiring on the girls, then working out to their advantage. During this, the Garrison family tries to fix their broken washing machine and saving themselves from calling a real professional.
Sly figures out a way to pick up chicks- surfing. Sly tries to get Tiffani to teach him how to surf and she agrees. After they start out lessons, Tiffani and Sly realize that there's something besides friendship between them. However, Tiffani's afraid that Sly wouldn't be able to commit to one girl. Matt, Jenny, and Tony decide to try and get the band a new lighting system and get a job painting some of the Garrion's rooms. Mr. Garrison agrees to pay them $300 in advance to buy the equipment with.
Sly decides that the band should enter a video contest. His vision for the video is to have the band chased by girls until Nicki Dentine kisses Matt at the end. Randi Jo, Matt's girlfriend, however, does not find the concept very appealing. Sly tricks Matt into getting the kiss and Randi Jo breaks up with Matt as a result. The breakup leads to a new song for the band written by Matt and a new video concept for Sly.
Los garrison aceptan a un estudiante de intercambio de China, Samatha Woo. Mientras tanto la banda trata de encontrar un reemplazo para Jenny. Samantha hace la actuacion y resulta ser muy buena entonces la cuadrilla le pide unirse al grupo. Los muchachos se quedan embelesados ante ella y hacen una apuesta para ver quien puede besarla primero. Cuando Tiffani lo averigua se lo dice a Sam estando dispuestas ha darles una leccion a ellos. Sam les dice que ella vuelve a China porque ellos no tienen ningún respeto por ella. Ellos le dicen que ellos harán cualquier cosa si con ello consiguen que se quede así ella los convence para disfrazarse como una mujer para que vean lo que se siente al ser tratada como un pedazo de carne.
Jake decide presentarse a una competicion con su Harley. Sin embargo cuando él tiene que irse de la ciudad él pide a Matt cuidar de ella. Sly decide tomarla para dar una vuelta y termina chocando contra Tony. Tony se rompe su pierna y termina en el hospital. Jake está furioso con Sly cuando él vuelve y averigua que pasó. Mientras tanto Tiffani piensa que a Tony le gusta ella y viceversa, las cosas se ponen muy extrañas entre ellos hasta que ellos hablan y lo clarifiquen.
El padre de Sly se va de la ciudad, entonces él convence a Matt de dejarle quedarse con él. En vez de pasar el tiempo con Matt, Sly pasa todo su tiempo tratando de hacercarse mas a Sam, ayudandole con sus tareas. Pero resulta no lleva muy bien esa asignatura entonces él roba uno de los trabajos de un estudiante del Sr. Garriso. Consiguiendo que al final Sam saque una mala puntuacion y tanto ella como Matt acaban estando artos de Sly y queriendo que él se marche pero el acaba finjiendo estar enfermo. Ellos le dejan quedarse y esperar que se recupere. Pero ellos descubren que él no esta enfermo y hacen de todo para hecharlo. Mientras tanto Tiffani sigue recibiendo regalos de un admirador secreto y Jake y Tony se vuelven muy protectores con ella, pero acaba siendo simplemente un borde inofensivo.
Los muchachos deciden tomar clases de cocina y las muchachas deciden tomar clases de mecanica. Tiffani quiere demostrar que ella puede hacer algo que los chicos pueden hacer. Y los chicos solamente quieren conocer a chicas. Jake piensa que Tiffani no podra con esto, pero entonces el finalmente intenta ayudarla cuando ella trata de areglar su coche, una cosa conduce a la otra y ellos comparten un beso. Matt presencia todo y se lo cuenta a todos, la cuadrilla no siente que esto sea lo mejor para el grupo entonces ellos dicen a Tiffani que Jake tarde o temprano la dejara y ellos dicen a Jake que él perderá su actitud borde. Mientras tanto Tiffani y Jake escriben una canción sobre su relación, pero no pueden olvidarse sobre lo que estan diciendo todos llegando a discutir y rompiendo. La cuadrilla se siente responsable y planean una cena romántica para ellos y Tiffani Jake a caban volviendo juntos..
Matt starts to like a girl named Katie, but then he finds out that her father, Mr. Stone, is the new owner of Sharky's. Mr. Stone would rather demolish the place instead of continuing it on as the restaurant Sharky's. So, the band must figure out a way to stop Mr. Stone from tearing down their hangout.
After the Garrison family moves away, including Matt, Sam moves in with Lorena Costa. The band also get to use her place to practice from now on. Unfortunately, all their equipment is at a pawn shop and they have to get it back. They also need to find a replacement for Matt. Sly thinks that his cousin, Mark, might be right for the job, but Mark has had a bad case of stage fright ever since Sly embarrased him at Carnegie Hall.
Everyone takes a career aptitude test at school that will tell them what career would be perfect for them. Mark a guidance counselor, Sam a photographer, Tiffani a veteranarian, Jake a florist, and Lorena and Sly both a fashion designer. In trying to get a date with Lorena, Sly copied off of her test so that they would have more in common with each other. While Jake has trouble writing a new song, he decides to work on his new florist career.
Sly's trying to find a date for the Romance Dance at school. So, he heads online and meets a girl, Allison, on the online chat room ""Comp-U-Chat"". When he finally meets her, he finds out that she's blind. After seeing Sly's good luck getting a date, Tony and Sam decide to give ""Comp-U-Chat"" a try for themselves.
It's time for another battle of the bands. This time the California Dreams are against the rap group Total Defiance. Managed by Rosie, Sly in the form of a girl. After Total Defiance says that Lorena is just a groupie, she wants to join the band. When she auditions, the band realizes that she can't sing at all. They don't want to hurt her feelings and tell her, especially Jake.
The band must work on a project for school, creating their own television shows. Tiffani and Mark partner up to create ""Ms. Smith's Neighborhood"", which is a cross between a surfing show and ""Mr. Roger's Oceanside."" Jake, Lorena, and Sam partner up to create ""Hall Monitors,"" a take-off on ""Cops."" While Sly and Tony create ""The Goo-Ga-Moo Guys,"" a ""Wayne's World""-type show for guys that are interested in girls. ""The Goo-Ga-Moo Guys"" becomes a hit show on a local station and Sly quits being manager of the band. However, Sly and Tony's friendship gets strained over greed.
Not wanting her dad to be alone, Tiffani sets her father, Paul, up with marine biologist Ariel. This turns out to be a bad idea when Tiffani's dad spends all his time with Ariel instead of Tiffani. Mark creates a compatability test that claims that Tony and Sam aren't compatabile as well as Jake and Lorena. The couples start arguing over the results.
The gang is assigned a school project to research their family tree and give a report. Tony isn't able to find anything about his family past the Civil War. Embarrassed, Tony lies about his family's background. Sly and Mark give a speech about their ancestors who had the Winkle charm, and try to use it on girls.
Jake enters a motorcycle contest and Uncle Frank pays a visit to help Jake win the competition. Uncle Frank gets Jake hooked on smoking. The whole gang thinks that smoking is a bad idea, especially Lorena. She threatens to not date Jake anymore if he doesn't quit. The band also finds a box filled with money on the beach. Mark is left in charge of it and Sly thinks investing the money in a get-rich-quick program is a good idea.
The new guy at school, Tommy Keating, bad-mouths Jake around the school. After Tommy challenges Jake to a motorcyle race, Jake accepts. After hitting a speed bump at Sharkey's, Jake crashes his bike and doesn't compete in the race, resulting in being accused of being a coward. Tony and Sly also become school safety monitors.
An old friend from Tony's childhood, Darren, pays a visit to Tony. He aks Tony to help out one of their friends from a gang that he's joined. The friend ends up in the hospital and Tony has to decide if he should help get revenge on the gang. The rest of the band takes a job delivering singing telegrams.
Lorena makes a bet with Jake that greed can rip apart friendship, even the band's friendship. Lorena and Jake create a plan to make the gang believe that there is buried treasure hidden nearby. Lorena's right- friendships start to get strained. Both Jake and Lorena end up surprised at the extent of everyone's greed.
While trying out for a spot on the National Volleyball Team, Tiffani realizes that her small size is keeping her from being the best. Sly suggests that Tiffani takes steroids to make her bigger and stronger. The band soon realizes that Tiffani is addicted to them. Sam and Lorena also have a studs contest featuring Tony, Sly, and Mark as contestants to see which one of the guys is the best with the ladies.
It's Jake and Tiffani's three month and two day anniversary. Jake agrees to go on the dating game as contestants along with Sly and Tony. To Jake's surprise, he ends up winning the date, and decides to keep it a secret from Tiffani. She finds out, causing her to break up with him again. Meanwhile, Tony gets to meet his idol, gameshow host, Milt Bradley.
Jake finally gets to meet his idol, Zane Walker, when he comes to town. Zane is a musician that's having trouble writing a new song. Jake thinks that Zane might be the key to getting the band a record deal, so they finally get him to listen to their song. Zane ends up stealing the song from the band and making it a hit. Also, after getting his fortune read, Tony has a streak of bad luck.
Using flashbacks from previous episodes, the gang puts Sly on trial for being the most greedy and selfish person in the world. Tony is defending Sly, while Tiffani is the prosecutor, and Jake becomes the judge.
In order to get the California Dreams a gig, Sly goes on a date with an overweight girl that he used to tease. He finally does get a conscience and starts to feel bad about using her. Meanwhile, a poem that Mark wrote for a crush goes from Mark to Lorena to Jake and then to Tony, making everyone think that the poem was written for them.
Sam's father gives her a credit card to use in case of emergencies. Sam goes a little overboard and ends up reaching the limit of the credit card. When she can't pay her father back, he threatens to make her return home to Hong Kong. The gang has to try and help her raise enough money to pay off the debt.
When Lorena's dad leaves her in charge of the ski lodge while he's away, she has Jake take over as the winter festival snow clown. Mark ends up running into his old girlfriend Jenny Stevens, who is an Olympic hopeful skier. She dumped him in order to try out for the United States National Ski Team. Meanwhile, Tony has a crush on a snow bunny.
Lorena wants to impress the new guy at school, Alan, so she decides to pretend that she's a poet. Sly and Mark want her to turn her loft into a coffe house while her parents are away. Lorena reads a poem that her father wrote for her mother, passing it off as her own. When Alan takes the poem, she has to think of a way to get it back from him.
Jake gets a new job as a motorcycle mechanic, but Tiffani thinks it might be a bad idea when she finds out that his boss, Mel, is a very pretty woman. When he starts to work even more hours, Tiffani gets jealous, and Lorena and Sam decide to spy on him. The plan backfires and Jake ends up getting fired. Meanwhile, Sly and Tony want to create a winning video for the show ""Wacky Videos"" by playing a joke on Mark.
Sly gets a job working as a used car salesman at a store run by Gem Diamond. Sam comes to buy a used car and in order to make a sale, Sly sells her a bad car. Not being a very good driver, when Sam comes to return the car, she drives it right into a telephone pole. Meanwhile, Lorena pretends to be interested in Mark in order to help him get another girl's attention.
Sam becomes the new president of the Honor Society at school. Since Tony isn't a member, he never seems Sam because she's busy with activities involving the Honor Society. Tony decides to cheat on a test in order to be able to join Sam in the club. Harvey Cramdon, the old Honor Society president, will stop at nothing to get his old position back.
Jake gets chosen to be followed around by the TV show ""Reel Teens"" for a week. The purpose of the show is to show how real teens deal with stress, school, and overall life. The show follows Jake as he fixes Tiffani's car, writes a new song for the band, and the stress becomes overwhelming for Jake.
Feeling neglected because his dad never spends any time with him, Sly starts to gamble. His gambling gets too out of hand when he ends up losing the bands equipment. The band has to figure out how to fix the relationship between Sly and his father. Meanwhile, Tony is on the Senior Awards committee and can't keep the fact that Jake is going to be awarded with the Himalaya Award (an award that is given to the most unique senior) a secret.
During the contest for Prom King and Queen, Jake and Tiffani tie Tony and Sam for the crowns. The competition between the two couples starts getting way out of hand. Meanwhile, Mark tries to ask a girl to the Prom and Sly books the band for a gig on the day of the Prom. - The gang ends up getting stranded in the woods before they make it to the Prom.
Tiffani, Sly, Mark, and Lorena, become extras on the television show ""Babewatch"" that films in their area. Sam also gets a job working on the show, and one of the crew members takes a liking to her, causing Tony to become jealous. Jake also gets a job working for the show as the assistant to the producer.
The gang decides to rectify the thing that they most regret doing or not doing during their time at high school. Sly's biggest regret is never telling Lorena that he has feelings for her. He tries to fix the problem by sending her anonymous love letters. Tiffani's biggest regret is being mean to a boy that asked her out freshman year. While, Sam and Tony regret not competing in the dance contest. Mark regrets letting the school's gym teacher get to him and Jake regrets not playing the bagpipes in public.
While trying to impress Sara, a girl that he likes, Mark decides to drink at Lorena's graduation party. He's too drunk to drive home, but does, and that leads to Sara ending up in the hospital and Mark ending up in jail. Meanwhile, Jake and Tiffani have to finish a class project or they won't graduate. The gang also finally get their diplomas from the Principal.
The band's amp blows and Lorena offers to buy them a replacement. The only catch is that she want's to be co-manager of the band alongside Sly. When she and Sly start arguing, it costs the band gigs. The new amp that Lorena buys blows the wiring at her loft and Jake and the guys try to fix it.
The next year of school starts in a week. Tiffani is going to study oceanography at the University of Hawaii. Sam is going to study physics at Oxford, while Mark is going to study music at Juliard. Sly and Lorena are both going to attend Pacific University, while Tony is going to go off and study acting. Jake tries to keep the band together by scoring a record contract. When he finally gets Brett Dewey of StyleJam records to offer them a contract, the rest of the band decides that they would rather go off to college than continue on in the band, but they encourage Jake to take the record contract for himself and continue on in music. Jake isn't sure that he wants to go on without the rest of the band.
An intimate look back at California Dreams with members of the cast.