Azula, Zuko, Ty Lee and Mai are on a boat to Ember Island for the weekend. Ty Lee is excited but Zuko thinks it is a waste of time. Azula explains that the Fire Lord wants to meet with his advisers alone.
They arrive and are greeted by the two old ladies Lo and Li. They look up the beach and see a tiny shack. The ladies know that they are not happy to be there but that the island is a special place.
Meanwhile, Aang and the others are relaxing in a pool surrounded by rock walls. Toph worries that Aang should be covering up his tattoos but Katara says they are surrounded by walls so they should be fine. Aang goes down a slide of water that he finds. Nearby, two Fire Nation soldiers lay around a small outpost. They groan how boring the job is then they hear a yell and see Aang fall out of the water tunnel.
Aang suggests to Momo that they go again and he leaps up the cliff wall to their hiding place. Shocked, the guards realize that the Avatar is still alive. They get their messenger hawk and tie on a priority message.
On the beach of Ember Island, the group walks up and on the way Azula frightens some small children. A boy runs up to Ty Lee and offers to unpack her bag. She hands him the heavy bag and he falls over. He quickly takes out a beach towel and, at her request, stands in front of the sun to give her some shade.
Zuko sees a shell and offers it to Mai as a present. She doesn’t care though so Zuko throws it away. It falls next to a boy and he looks over. He sees Ty Lee and runs up to offer the shell to her. An argument breaks out between the two boys who are trying to impress her.
Zuko walks up to Mai with some snow cones but as he gives it to her, it falls on her lap. Azula spots some people playing a game further down the beach. She says they are playing next and orders Ty Lee to come over and leave the 3 boys who are taking care of her. Zuko removes his shirt and some girls start giggling.
Azula explains her strategy and the game begins. The game goes fairly quickly and two boys watch their progress. The game ends and the two boys walk over and invite Ty Lee and Mai to a party they are having that night. Azula asks why they didn’t invite her and Zuko. The boys Chan and ronjohn (Chan is the son of Admiral Chan mentioned in the awakening) consent to let them come too.
Back at their house, Zuko asks why Azula didn’t reveal who they were. Azula says that she just wanted to see what it was like. Somewhere else, the messenger hawk is flying with its message when it is attacked by another bird. The other bird, tangles the messenger in its own ribbon then steals its message after it falls to the ground.
It flies back with the message and lands on an arm of metal. It hands over the message to none other than the assassin hired by Zuko. He reads the letter then it starts to burn. Azula and the group arrive at the party but there is no one there yet. Azula tries to compliment Chan but she does not do very well.
As the party gets going, all the boys from the beach ask her who she likes, she gets scared and paralyzes all of them. She walks up to Azula who says that the boys don’t really like her. Ty Lee starts crying and Azula apologizes and explains she is a little jealous. Ty Lee tries to coach her in how to get a boy to like her but Azula has some trouble not being intimidating.
Mai and Zuko are bored so Mai tells Zuko to go get her some food. Azula walks up to Chan who is talking with another girl and asks for a tour of the house. They go out on the deck overlooking the water and Azula manages to keep it together. They kiss and then Azula makes fire in her hands saying that they will rule the world together. Chan quickly runs away leaving Azula frustrated.
As Zuko is walking back to Mai with the food, he is jostled by a boy and the food falls to the ground. Zuko tells the boy off and says the food was for his girlfriend. He points and looks and find Mai talking to the other boy from the beach. He walks over and pushes him out of the way. Zuko warns him not to talk to his girlfriend. The boy walks over again and says that it is just a party. Zuko knocks him backward into a vase.
Mai tells him to stop getting angry over everything. Zuko yells back that she doesn’t even have emotions. Mai says it is over and Chan runs up and sees the vase. He tells Zuko to leave and Zuko says he was already leaving. Zuko walks alone on the beach and arrives at the house where he used to come as a kid.
He walks in and finds a picture of his family and a block with he imprinted his hand as a child. He has a series of flashbacks from his childhood. Somewhere in the Fire Nation, Aang and the others sleep. Toph wakes up and rouses the others saying that a metal man is coming. A beam of light falls on Aang’s face and he sees someone standing up on the cliff wall. The beam of light is coming from the figure’s metal arm.
The man rears back and then shoots a beam at the group from the eye on his forehead. Everyone tries to use their bending to block it but each time the man blasts right through it.
Azula finds Zuko at the house and tells him to come down to the beach. The group is gathered there. Zuko tries to approach Mai but she turns away. He asks her if she is cold but she does not answer. Ty Lee says she is and Zuko says he will make a fire.
The unknown assassin continues to fire blasts out of his third eye. Sokka wonders how they can defeat someone who can blow things up with his mind. Aang says he will distract the man while they get on Appa. With the man in pursuit, Aang leaps over into valley filled with stone pillars. With his earthbending, Aang tries every trick he knows but the man always blasts the earth away. Aang finds an opportunity and uses one of the blasts to shoot himself into the air where Appa picks him up. The group wonders who the man was and why he attacked.
Back on Ember Island, Ty Lee asks Zuko why he is burning the picture of his family. They get into an argument and names are called. Mai joins in and soon the whole group is arguing and explaining about their pasts. Ty Lee suggests they calm down before they break out. Zuko turns to her and points to his scar saying he does not have the luxury of worrying about his face.
Zuko explains that he is angry and he doesn’t know why. The others ask him who he is angry at but Zuko does not know. Finally he can’t take it and shouts that he is angry at himself. He says that he is confused and he is not sure if he knows the difference between right and wrong. Mai says she cares about him and they kiss.
Azula claps at their dramatic performances. Zuko says that she wouldn’t understand. Azula agrees and says that their mother liked Zuko more. She says that their own mother thought she was a monster. Azula admits that she was right but that it still hurt.
Ty Lee comments that the beach did help them learn about themselves just like Lo and Li said. She says she will always remember this. Azula says that they could make the trip really memorable. Chan opens the door and Azula says that they have bad news. They start trashing the place and they leave Chan crying as they leave the house in ruins.
