Sun, Nov 10, 1985
Nick and John seeing him play his saxophone for the whales out on his boat anchored off of Tuck Island is the first indication that anyone has of the return of former Gibsons resident Stuart Brody, better known as Halibut Stu. Nick and John end up spending the day with their eccentric old friend, who seems to spend his life playing music, drinking homemade wine and inventing things that have no real world use. Nick and John spending the day with Stu is why they are the second to last people in Gibsons to know about the two mysterious but bumbling men in town, they who are wearing matching suits and hats, that are looking for Stu, and are willing to pay big money to find him. Stu is the last person to know. Relic has no problems taking their money and showing them where Stu is, no matter who they are. But when Nick and John tell Stu of the men, he doesn't tell them who the men are beyond not wanting to have anything to do with them, which means his immediate departure from these waters. Will the two suits or Stu get what they want in their immediate tasks?
Sun, Jan 24, 1988
A storm has swept much debris into the area. There is some miscommunication on the issue, as before Nick and Jesse can clear the larger logs off the water, Graham and his friend Jenny, with Pat and Sara at the boat's helm, are water-skiing in the area. Hitting one of the logs, Jenny crashes and suffers what looks to be a serious injury, which requires a full body cast upon her admittance into the hospital. After Jenny initially feels sorry for herself about her situation, she learns from the doctor that she will most-likely regain full use of her upper body with physical therapy, but that she may never walk again. Jenny possibly being confined to a wheelchair brings up the issue of accessibility in all her old haunts. But as Jenny tries to cope with the news of her prognosis, Graham, Sara and Pat all deal with the issue of Jenny in a different way. While Graham goes overboard in trying to push Jenny to the limit in every aspect of her new life, Pat, feeling guilty about the accident, can't even face her. The question becomes whether the four can ever have a "normal" friendship again.
Sun, Oct 16, 1988
Dana is making what she considers subtle but significant changes to The Reach in order to make it what she wants, not disrupt what the locals expect, and attract a larger tourist trade. Many of the regulars like the changes, but Relic is not one of them, he who is forthright to Dana in his criticisms. Regardless, Dana tries what she considers her best to accommodate Relic, a customer. Even with these changes, Dana decides to make one more only because many of the regulars treat the café like their own private club, staying hours on end just to hang out and drink bottomless cups of coffee. This last move irks many of the locals but is the last straw for Relic. Because she cannot tolerate what she considers his inconsiderate and rude behavior, Dana bans Relic from The Reach forever. Caught in the middle is Nick, who John and Jack appoint as mediator as he is perceived Dana's closest friend in Gibsons. After Nick speaks to both Dana and Relic, they both soften their stance slightly, but if Relic is to return to The Reach, it has to be on each their own terms, which may be a deal breaker for the two combatants.
Wed, Oct 3, 1990
Jesse wants to pay off his new fishing boat as quickly as possible, meaning taking the boat out as often as possible when the fish are running. Jesse's problem is keeping a deck hand. Welk, his first deck hand, quits over a dispute with Jesse. Although Jesse in his single-minded pursuit does overwork Welk, Welk in turn is lazy. Jesse would like to take Tommy out, which he in return would love, but Laurel feels Tommy is still too young. John goes out with Jesse on one trip, but his day job as police corporal gets in the way. So Nick agrees to the job until Jesse can make more permanent arrangements. On Jesse and Nick's inaugural fishing trip together, they find they have a third, a stowaway, on board: Tommy. Nick finds that he's not well suited to the work. They decide to connect with Travis, another commercial fisherman who purchases cleaned fish for cash from other fishermen, and provide supplies. When he learns that Travis is heading to Nanaimo, Nick, who wants to head back to Gibsons and his other work while Jesse wants to stay out fishing for a few more days, figures it better to hitch a ride with Travis as opposed making Jesse go in. When Nick boards Travis' boat, what he is unaware of is that Travis' new deck hand, Welk, with the reluctant cooperation of the other more mild mannered deck hand, Bob, has taken over the boat in a mutiny. Welk had planned to set Travis on a skiff to fend for himself while he and Bob absconded with the boat and Travis' money to Mexico. With Nick now aboard, that alters Welk's plan to two aboard the skiff. The only person who may be able to save Nick and Travis is Jesse, who feels that something isn't quite right with his fellow fisherman.
Sun, Oct 2, 1988
A Toronto divorced person is searching for another life. She assumes control over the Reach bistro and turns out to be a piece of the drifters family, alongside her eleven-year-old child Sam. Constable John gets an advancement and his own particular police vessel, Nick chooses to remain in Gibsons and Jesse, Laurel and Tommy move into their own home.
Sun, Dec 27, 1987
Jesse is the only person excited to learn that he's won a contest, the prize being a freezer full of beef which should be able to feed his family for a year. His excitement turns to horror and his friends and family's indifference turns to amusement when he finds out that that freezer full of beef is still alive in the form of a live cow. Beyond the added cost of butchering the cow, Jesse learns that the butcher will not slaughter the cow, meaning that Jesse has to do it himself, or find someone to come out of the woodwork so to speak to do it for him. He does get a few offers from his friends to do the slaughtering, the cost of half the meat which he is willing to pay. The question becomes whether his friends are full of hot air. In addition, everyone seems not to know how to handle the cow, that is except for Sara, who bonds with who she names Emma. The problem becomes whether Jesse can now kill Emma, especially as Sara has vowed never to forgive him if he does.
Wed, Jun 28, 1989
Having reconciled with her friends Pat, Sara and Graham, Jenny enlists their help in gathering evidence of toxic waste being dumped into Starlight Bay, the site of a new residential development. All Jenny knows right now is that dead fish are appearing in the bay, and that the development lawyer and owner, Jason Leonard and Joe Malik, are trying to hide the fact of those dead fish. Pat, Sara and Graham are able to find hard evidence of something illegal going on, including more dead fish and birds, and PCB contaminated underwater sand samples in various locations in the bay. But their discoveries are not without Leonard and Malik finding out that Jenny is still snooping around, Leonard who further threatens legal action against Sal, and criminal charges against Jenny and her friends. Undeterred, Jenny still proceeds and is able to find the source of the contamination with some help from Relic as the former owner of the property in question. But as Jenny and the gang realize that Leonard and Malik may make one last dump to get rid of the evidence, Jenny and her friends put themselves in harm's way in trying to protect the environment.
Wed, Jun 21, 1989
Ever since her water-skiing accident which left her a paraplegic, Jenny Halstrom has tried to do everything on her own without help. She loves living in Gibsons, which is why she is distraught to learn that her mother is thinking about selling their house and moving the two of them to Vancouver, which she sees as providing them greater opportunity. Beyond the marine work which Pat cannot get to which he forwards to her, Jenny hopes to be able to provide for herself and her mother in Gibsons through other work. That other work becomes more important when Jenny learns that Pat could have done the work given to her, but that he was trying to give her a sense of self sufficiency. This revelation, which she considers charity, places a strain between her and her friends: Pat, Graham and Sara. The additional work which she does get is for Sal at the newspaper on a trial basis. The story on which she wants to work is the reason for the spate of dead fish found near the new development happening at Starlight Bay. When she reported what she saw to John, he found nothing upon investigation. But when the development lawyer threatens legal action if the newspaper prints anything libelous against them, which makes Sal more cautious, Jenny is more determined than ever to find out what's going on. But she realizes that she will require the help of her friends, that is if they are still speaking to her.