It is the late 1960's. With the war in Viet Nam a growing shadow, Teenage Andy Anderson contemplates his place in life. Into his world come Reeseanne, an intelligent, resourceful girl, and Vince McAuley, her physicist father. Involved in secret defense work, Vince has begun to question the expanding war. With Reeseanne, Andy shares his growing suspicion that something mysterious has been going on in the woods near his house, something that centers on his friend, eccentric Hagar Bixly. As Andy's parents face crises in their personal lives, the teenager, Reeseanne, and her father are pulled deeper and deeper into the mystery of the woods, and must ultimately confront not only sinister strangers, but the ramifications of a mystery from beyond Earth.