Shawn and Gus receive a mysterious email asking them to come to a Cinnamon Festival in Dual Spires, a town so small it's written in parenthesis on the map. After meeting many of the colorful residents, including Robert and Michelle Barker who run the local diner and Sheriff Johnson, who questions how they heard about the Festival since they deliberately keep it simple in their town, they make their way to the square where the Festival is being held. But just after eighteen-year-old Randy is crowned Cinnamon King, Jack, a weeping teenager on a bike crashes the festivities and whispers upsetting news to the Sheriff. Robert and Michelle fear the worst has come true - their missing niece Paula has been found dead. Jack leads them all to the body, where Doc Gooden suspects she took her usual night swim and hit her head on a rock. Just then, Shawn receives another mysterious email suggesting it was murder.
Spoilers ahead. Coverage follows the scope labeled below.
Complete story — includes the ending
In a tribute to the David Lynch and Mark Frost television series Twin Peaks, Shawn and Gus receive an email for a cinnamon festival in the small and isolated town of Dual Spires, arriving only to find a dead female drowning victim, who according to Juliet, was not only originally from Santa Barbara but had apparently drowned seven years ago. Indeed, this town is not all that it seems. Twin Peaks actors Dana Ashbrook, Catherine E. Coulson, Sherilyn Fenn, Sheryl Lee, Robyn Lively, Lenny Von Dohlen, Ray Wise, and the voice of Julee Cruise are all featured.