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Faced with the likelihood of being sent to a foster home, Ryan (Ben McKenzie) runs away from the Newport Beach home of the Cohens, planning to ultimately escape to Texas. Actually, he gets no farther than an uncompleted building project, a "model home" conceived by Seth's mother, Kirsten Cohen (Kelly Rowan). Seth (Adam Brody) and Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton) dedicate themselves to concealing Ryan from the authorities, and they form a bond of friendship when they see Kirsten secretly meet with and loan 100,000 dollars to Marissa's financially floundering father, Jimmy (Tate Donovan). Unfortunately, Marissa's jealous boyfriend, Luke (Chris Carmack), is in no mood to cooperate -- and by the time this episode comes to a climax, the audience has borne witness to a cataclysmic conflagration...and two arrests.