In 1992, after five years in Liberty City, gangster Carl "CJ" Johnson returns to Los Santos following his mother's death in a drive-by shooting. He is intercepted by corrupt C.R.A.S.H. officers led by Frank Tenpenny, who threaten to implicate CJ in the killing of a fellow police officer unless he co-operates with them. CJ returns to Grove Street and reunites with his brother Sean "Sweet" Johnson, sister Kendl Johnson, and members of his old gang, Big Smoke and Ryder. Discovering the Grove Street Families (GSF) have lost much of their territory, CJ restores the gang to power by helping reunite the various GSF sets who had splintered and allying himself with Cesar Vialpando -Kendl's boyfriend and leader of the Varrios Los Aztecas gang.