Unable to change the default directory in Finder?
Here are some quick suggestions. On newer OS, the files storing plist are not the final source of preferences. Instead, you will need to issue a delete command to the preference system that runs and contains a working copy of your changes.

defaults delete com.apple.finder


That should remove the preferences and then you would need to log out and log in to flush those deletions to disk. Next you would look at deleting any .DS_Store files in the folders or views where you had the wrong initial view. When you log in, you might then need to open the Finder preferences, use the general tab and re-set the initial folder view for new finder windows. Lastly, if there is corruption on the filesystem (rare - but could affect things), you might restart into Recovery HD and run Disk Utility to repair the boot volume.