Johnny Harper was a great surfer, but when he had an accident he had to stop his career. He became good friends with Marissa Cooper, when she had to attend his school. Marissa supported and helped him as well as she could. A short time after his girlfriend Casey cheated on him he fell in love with Marissa. Later Marissa's sister Kaitlin tried to seduce him, but quickly she recognized that he was in love with her sister. As Johnny saw that his life was destroyed, he drank too much and fell off a cliff before Ryan Atwood could save him - Johnny died. His best friend Dennis "Chili" Childress.