In the churning aftermath of the turbulent sixties, teenager Seth Wickman attempts to lead a quiet life on his parents' farm. One August evening his serenity is disrupted when he receives a call from a frantic neighbor, Wylie Barone, claiming to have just seen a strange light in the dark woods beyond his home. Skeptical yet curious, Seth responds to Wylie's plea without delay and soon witnesses a glowing, green figure slowly emerging from behind a stand of tall pine trees. Much to his chagrin, Seth eventually realizes he has been lured into a hoax perpetrated by Wylie and another mutual friend, Wade Hotchner.
Humiliated and wishing very much to escape the butt of a joke, Seth blindly reaches for a diversion. Utilizing the pretense of improving on their scheme, he employs them to help him organize a more elaborate charade aimed at a larger audience. While they plot to scare the daylights out of their intended victims, nothing prepares them for the radical and dangerous chain of events that are about to mar even the best laid plans.
As adolescence humor and hormones abound, Seth gradually discovers that there is a fine line between imagination and the reality that accompanies learning the ultimate truth.