Episode 1
Amos and Themba's relationship deteriorates rapidly when they arrive in Hopeville and discover the promised swimming pool is abandoned and out of use.
Themba, bottling his grief over his recently deceased mother, bunks school on the first day and meets with a gang of other 'rejects' who force him to complete a dangerous dare, resulting in him getting a nasty scare at the Venter house.
Hating the new life his father has chosen for them, Themba reports to his aunty Flo about Amos's broken promise in the hopes of getting out of Hopeville.
Faced with the prospect of Themba's removal, Amos realises that making a difference in his son's life is going to take a lot more than he bargained on. Amos will have to prove his commitment to his son if Themba is going to accept him as a father.
At work things are not much better for Amos as he discovers his position as parks and recreation manager is window dressing.
What he doesn't know yet is that the corrupt mayor Patrick and his cronies are planning to rezone the land where the swimming pool is into a liquor outlet.
Episode 2
Amos's numerous attempts at forging a relationship with his son fall flat and somehow he always ends up the bad guy.
Desperate to fix the problem, Amos comes up against Hopeville's darker forces when he enquires about the public swimming pool, and discovers there is something wrong with the town's priorities.
Torn between his son's resentment and a sinister warning from Khobane the town cop to stay away from the pool, Amos resolves to do the only thing he knows is right: he starts the massive task of cleaning and restoring the public pool.
As Themba ingratiates himself into a new circle of friends he clashes with the bully of the group, Andile, Khobane's son. We soon realise that Andile's bravado is merely a front as behind closed doors everything is not well at home; domestic violence is always threatening to boil over.
We get to know other residents of the town; we meet Amos's sobriety counsellor, Ma Dolly, who is the only person in Hopeville looking after numerous abandoned children in the township Halala.
We get an insight into the corrupt mayor's unhappy marriage and see how Amos's growing interest in the mayor's mistress, Fikile.
Themba hears about the Cowboy legend, and although the gang's excursion to the pool yields nothing concrete, something is spying on the residents of Hopeville...
Episode 3
Themba is mortified when the gang discovers Amos working on the pool, but his attitude shifts when Bibi and Gerhard (two fellow ‘gang' members) take an interest in swimming.
When Amos is summoned back to his desk job by the mayor, Themba automatically expects his dad to abandon the pool, but Amos proves that he intends to make good on his promise to his son and starts earning the community's respect by working on the pool after hours.
Ma Dolly becomes frantic when an injured orphan disappears after an accident at the rubbish dump. Desperate for support from the community, Dolly buries her grievances with the Halala church choir and enlists their help in fixing up the pool.
Amos' work on the pool causes bad ripples as well. The local hardware store owned by the Daniels brothers, with an interest in the liquor development, sells him cut cement and Felix Venter, perceived as the town racist, shows negative interest in the goings-on at the pool.
Episode 4
Something positive is starting to happen in Hopeville - the community's support for the pool grows and the Hopeville School organises a Sing to Swim evening to raise funds for the future maintenance of the pool.
When garbage is dumped into the pool that night, Venter is wrongly accused and the community almost gives up, but Amos's determination (and courage in standing up to Patrick) inspires the community to push on with their plans to restore the pool.
A vigil is held to protect the pool against Felix Venter's apparent sabotage, but we discover that it was Patrick who ordered the rubbish to be dumped.
Worried that Amos will jeopardise the liquor outlet development, he orders Fikile to get Amos to start drinking. Fikile must choose (for the first time) between her loyalty to Amos and the threat of her secret identity as an illegal foreigner being exposed.
Themba's pride in Amos grows in leaps and bounds, but his faith in his dad is tested when all the water leaks out of the pool and Andile exposes Amos as a drunk.
We also notice that all is not well at the Venter house, where old man Venter is lying incapacitated after an accident.
Episode 5
Amos has lost face in the eyes of the town and his son, but when the notice of a council vote on the development of the liquor outlet is posted, Ma Dolly rallies the women of the town behind Amos to save the pool.
When Fikile pulls out of the liquor development deal she is threatened by Patrick and forced to face his wife and the fact that her relationship with the mayor is causing great harm to herself and others.
At great risk to herself she warns Amos of Patrick's intentions and how to influence the council vote.
Patrick offers Khobane shares in the liquor outlet and in a final attempt to get rid of Amos gets Khobane to plant liquor in Amos' desk causing him to lose his job and custody of his son. Amos almost gives up, but at the last minute returns to the pool with the town folk.
The incident over the cut cement brings the loyalty between the Daniels brothers to a crisis point. When Elvis' guilty conscience eventually gets the better of him, he defies his older brother by helping Amos reseal the pool. Finally they start filling the pool.
When Amos hears a continuous whimpering coming from the Venter house he wants to investigate but is stopped by a fearful Themba.
On the day of the council vote the pool is full and sparkling; Amos and the community are confident that all will go well.
It doesn't. Patrick swings the vote in his favour and as the news breaks that Hopeville will lose its newly renovated pool, Themba's aunt, Flo, pitches up to take him back to his mom's family.
Episode 6
Themba refuses to go with his aunt, but when he discovers his father has finally been defeated by the council vote and is prepared to let him go with his aunt, he is devastated and resigns himself to the fact that his father is a loser.
Khobane is pushed to breaking point when Patrick backtracks on his promise of making him a partner in the liquor outlet. Realising his failures, Khobane cuts the town's power and takes off into the mountains in the dead of night...
Amos ends up on Venter's doorstep in a drunken rage only to discover an incapacitated man fearing for his life. He meets Eugene, Felix's brain-damaged son, and the mystery of Cowboy is finally explained.
Amos's prayers are answered when Themba returns to Hopeville and leads the crowd into the swimming pool. This final confirmation that his efforts have made a difference sways Amos to take action one last time by reconciling the town with its oldest nemesis, Felix Venter.
The next morning the startled town finds the Hopeville sign changed to read EVIL. As the bulldozers pull into town and Fikile sees the consequences of her actions, she rallies the community to the swimming pool and exposes Patrick's corrupt intentions (admitting her own illegal status and debunking the legitimacy of the council vote).
Good ripples turn to waves of relief when the Hopeville community jump into their new pool and at the last moment Fikile's courage pays off.
In the coda to our dramatic tale, we see a projected vision of Hopeville in the not-too-distant future: a town rejuvenated and united, where the lives of our characters have changed, for good.