The Infamous Jersey Shore Pickpocket Ring of 1979

Martin Ebel is about to be embarrassed in his upcoming re-election bid, and he knows it. As mayor of tourist haven Seaside Heights, New Jersey, he hasn’t done a great job, and is trying to convince voters who may or may not even be in town this summer that they should give him another chance. The writing is on the wall, though: he needs to start looking for a new career.

Opportunity strikes for Martin, though, when he’s approached by Peter Blythe, a South Jersey native who tells him a grand story of buried gold jewelry under the Seaside Boardwalk. Despite horrible odds, it’s just believable enough that the mayor decides to take a stab at it, in a Hail Mary pass to salvage his political career.

Turns out, he’s been told the truth: an excavation reveals the treasure is somehow still there. But as the murky nature of how it got there comes clear, Martin must navigate a plot decades in the making, legal, political and personal challenges, and his own family’s history through a maze that may save him from crushing defeat… Or ensure it.