The story jumps back to the past and follows Zoey, then still the protagonist’s girlfriend, and what happened with her up until having returned at the end of episode 8.

The protagonist and Zoey hang out in her home. She goes downstairs to bring a beer as her mother Alison tells her something is wrong with her grandmother and that she’s going to visit her. Zoey shows concern for Grandma and asks her mom to let her know that she loves her. The next day, still at Zoey’s home, they talk about Zoey failing trigonometry class and their plans for the future. It is revealed that Zoey has a stepfather, Floyd, which she dislikes. They have sex and Zoey talks about her trying to get the protagonist to tell her more about what he wants in bed but he has been reluctant to do so, especially after she laughed at him last time. Zoey and the protagonist have trouble discussing their feelings with each other.

Zoey goes downstairs to bring a beer and meets Alison who is back with news that Grandma Doris has passed away. Zoey is devastated and flashes back to her memories of Doris, who was always on her side and believed in her aspirations to become a surfer despite Floyd’s objections. As she’s grieving, she decides that in honor of Doris, she has to pursue her dream of becoming a surfer. She prepares to leave for a surfing school in San Diego. The protagonist escorts her to the train station and they part ways. On the way to California, Zoey reflects on her relationship with the protagonist and reads her diary, which contains some sketches and thoughts. It is revealed that what made her laugh at the protagonist is that she was proud of him after he managed to ask her for something sexual.

In San Diego, Zoey checks in to a hostel which forces her to wear a wristband indicating that she isn’t of legal drinking age, to Zoey’s dismay. At the surfing school, Zoey partners up with Emma, a heavily tattooed and pierced local adult woman. Emma talks with Zoey about something she learned from a tourist called “home blindness”, a phenomenon where you don’t notice the good things that you have at home because you’re always around them. Emma sees the sketches in Zoey’s diary and takes her to the tattoo shop where she works as a tattoo artist. She convinces the shop owner Bret to hire Zoey as an assistant to the shop. At the shop, Zoey also meets another tattoo artist named Jonah who is gay.

Over the next few months, Zoey grows anxious with her mediocre performance at surfing. She becomes better friends with the people at the shop, especially Bret, as her relationship with the protagonist weakens. They go out drinking and Jonah discusses his aspirations to study finance, as Emma is worried about Bret and Zoey getting closer.

Zoey gets her first tattoo, a chest tattoo of wings in memory of Doris. While talking with Bret about relationships, he reveals that he and Emma used to be a couple before Emma moved to Vegas to pursue her dreams. Their relationship weakened as Emma contacted him less and less until they finally became only friends when she came back to San Diego. Zoey eventually stops talking with the protagonist altogether, noting that she’s following a similar path to what Emma did when she left Bret and convinces herself that it’s for the better and will help the protagonist get over their breakup.

Zoey moves from the hostel to an apartment. Emma and Zoey do topless photo shoots of each other, as Emma sends her topless photo to the new employee at the tattoo shop Jenna, who replies with a topless photo and it is revealed that she’s lesbian. Zoey gets her nipples pierced by Emma as Bret accidentally walks in on them and is uncomfortable with having seen Zoey naked. Emma grows suspicious of Zoey and Bret and accuses her of having sex with him. A few days later, in an outburst of rage, Emma posts the topless photo of Zoey on social media as revenge for supposedly having sex with Bret. Zoey enters Emma’s apartment and they fight. Zoey tries to calm Emma down and convince her she didn’t do anything with Bret, asking Emma why she cares so much about what Bret does. Emma breaks down and bursts into tears as she confesses she’s in love with Bret but hasn’t told him, having assumed that he didn’t pursue her more aggressively when she left for Vegas because he’s not interested in her. Zoey tells her Bret’s side of the story and that she should talk with him about her feelings.

Zoey begins seeing parallels between her to Emma and between what happened with Emma and Bret to her relationship with the protagonist. One evening at the shop, everyone is very drunk as Emma confesses her feelings to Bret and they make up. Zoey and Jonah leave the place as Emma asks Zoey to join them for a threesome, but Zoey declines and leaves. Bret and Emma have sex as a half-asleep Jenna cheers them on.

Zoey starts running out of money and eventually realizes that she doesn’t want to be a surfer. She says goodbye to her friends at the shop and packs her stuff to get back home. On the train, she thinks about her home blindness. After reuniting with her mother, she goes to the protagonist’s house to see what’s up with him. Neil opens the door, and they smile and hug.

Back at the present, the protagonist is in the bathroom at the Burke house, still shocked by what just happened, as Neil calls. He tells Neil that this isn’t a good time as Neil tells him Zoey returned and wants to talk with him, adding further trouble to his already complicated situation. He tells Neil to give Zoey his new number as Sage knocks aggressively on the bathroom door and calls him out, saying that they need to talk.