It features the travails of the inhabitants of a fictional small coastal town in New South Wales called Summer Bay, concentrating on the family occupying and running the local caravan park who typically foster several teenagers. Like Neighbours, the other Australian half-hour daily soap, it attracts a mainly teenage audience and features a constantly-rotating teenage cast with several older actors who tend to last considerably longer.

Actors Kate Ritchie and Ray Meagher have been with the show continuously since the first episode, the longest such run in Australian television history. Ritchie was aged nine and playing a character a year younger when the show began filming in late 1987. Her character is now a teacher at the local high school, and became Principal when Norman Coburn's character, the previous principal and fellow original cast member left the show.