An underwater earthquake generates a tsunami that strikes Malibu, bringing a hunting pack of prehistoric-looking goblin sharks to the surface. Although the beach is evacuated before the big wave strikes, a group of lifeguards and a crew of construction workers are stranded in the high water and have to fight the sharks to get to dry land.

A group of entitled Beverly Hills oceanography students arrive at a mansion in Malibu, to study the local ocean waters. However, someone… or something, has other, more murderous intent, as the Students begin to disappear, one by one, murdered by some flesh-shredding entity, leaving wounds similar in nature to a shark attack. But how is that possible, when the nearest ocean is a half-mile away?