Kellan tells Dr. Lubich about what triggered his breakdown and recalls his strange encounter with the Coroner's Clerk upon his return to Salton Sea after some bones are identified as belonging to Kellan's long lost twin brother.
Kellan, reeling emotionally, pays a visit to the Salton Sea police department to talk to the lead detective in his brother's case, Det. Helen Dove, before he ventures out onto the toxic beach to meet with local eccentric, Lifeguard Lenny.
Kellan meets charming and flirtatious Jill on a trolley tour of Salton Sea before Frank-a local Private Eye and lunatic force of nature-breaks into his motel room to whisk Kellan away before the place blows up.
Kellan reluctantly joins forces with Frank to get to the bottom of his twin brother's disappearance twenty years ago; Kellan recalls his intimate-but-innocent encounter with Jill in his motel bathroom.
With Dr. Lubich's help, Kellan probes his fragmented memory of the events surrounding his twin's disappearance; Kellan returns to the police department to brace Detective Dove about some details regarding the night his brother vanished.
Kellan and Frank clash over how to proceed in both the investigation of the long-ago disappearance of Kellan's brother and the recent murder of a female tourist when it becomes clear that both homicides are connected; more bones are found.
When Kellan's brain-addled father goes missing, he tracks him down at an abandoned house and tries to provoke a discussion about the veracity of his childhood memories; Kellan and Dr. Lubich discuss the peculiar nature of hallucinations.
Frank shackles Kellan to a radiator in his office in order to force Kellan's suppressed memories to the surface before he reveals the disturbing details of a series of abductions around the time Kellan's brother vanished.
Kellan escapes from his imprisonment in the Crab Shack with the help of Lifeguard Lenny before he reunites with Frank; neither Kellan nor Dr. Lubich learn the full truth about what actually happened all those years ago, but we do.