Larson High School in South Leonardo, Georgia, is a two-story brick building with a red roof. It stands next to a one-story brick building painted white with a big red lion’s head on the side. Beyond that is a football practice field. Next to it, kids in P.E. class play basketball on a blacktop that doubles as a parking lot. Wayne enters the school carrying a Sam Goody bag.
Ms. Conklin teaches a history class. She uses her pointer to highlight different parts of a pull-down map of World War II Europe. Written on the chalkboard is the date: October 28, 1997.
Steven sits at a desk at the back of the class, His head rests on his arms and he’s fast asleep. Wayne sneaks through the classroom’s door and grabs the empty desk next to Steven. Wayne tries to wake Steven up. Steven snorts but adjusts and goes back to sleep. Wayne tries again. Other students near the back of the class look in Wayne’s direction. He smiles and waves. Everyone turns back toward the teacher.
Wayne shouts. Steven snaps awake and to an upright, sitting position. Drool runs down his chin. Ms. Conklin looks towards the back of the room. Wayne hides strategically behind the basketball player sitting in front of him. Ms. Conklin questions Steven, and he gives the answer "Germany." The class laughs at him. Ms. Conklin doesn’t know why. Ms. Conklin says he's correct and goes back into her lecture.
Wayne punches Steven in the shoulder. Steven turns towards him, ready to punch back. He sees Wayne and grins. They do an elaborate, but awkward handshake that ends with each of them letting out a high-pitched “whoop!” Ms. Conklin looks towards the back of the room.
Ms. Conklin questions Steven. He gives the answer "Bonn." The class laughs. Ms. Conklin is still oblivious. She tells Steven he's correct and goes back to her lecture.
Wayne puts the Sam Goody bag on the desk and pulls out a CD boxed set for the Flaming Lips, “Zaireeka.” He shows it to Steven, who grins and grabs the box. Steven grins and grabs the box. He starts examining the back cover. He's excited.
Steven asks when they're listening. Wayne grabs the box and puts it back in the Sam Goody bag. Wayne says they're going to Lost Lake and Wayne will pick Steven up at 6 p.m.
Ms. Conklin stands in front of them. She chastises Wayne, who's in her 6th period class, asking why he's early. He says he can't get enough history knowledge. The class laughs. Ms. Conklin gestures for Wayne to get out. She ushers him toward the door. Wayne points at Steven, saying he'll see Steven at 6. Steven waves. Ms. Conklin pushes Wayne out of the classroom and shuts the door behind him. Ms. Conklin goes back into her lecture. Steven grins.
Steven’s house is a nice, two-story suburban residence with a perfectly manicured lawn and a Lexus and a BMW in the driveway. Steven gets off of a school bus and jogs to the front door and goes inside.
Steven sits at a desk in his room, working on his homework. His mother, Mona, opens the door and pokes her head into the room. She asks him what time his thing is. He says 6. She asks if he's getting his homework done. He says he is. She says he needs to eat family dinner before he goes. She asks about the music, suggesting she might be into it. She says she used to be into cool music. He shakes his head. They both laugh. She closes the door.
Steven sits at the dinner table as Mona serves dinner. Also present are Steven’s father, Martin, and his brother, Jamie, and sister, Liz. Mona finishes and joins them.
Martin asks what Steven is doing tonight. He says he's going out to Lost Lake to listen to the new Flaming Lips album. Martin thinks it sounds fishy. The rest of the family condemns his casual homophobia. Steven's siblings back him up. Nora said she already told Steven could go and Martin relents.
Steven asks to be excused. He goes in the kitchen. He rinses his dishes and puts them in the washer. He walks back through the dining room, stopping to kiss his mom goodnight.
Martin tells Steven not to do anything he (Martin) wouldn't do. Everyone laughs. They make fun of Martin, saying he wouldn't do anything. Martin takes umbrage. Steven goes outside, shutting the door behind him.
Steven walks out the front door. Wayne waits for him behind the wheel of a 60s Ford Mustang convertible. Steven jogs to the car and gets in the passenger side. Making out in the back seat are Ronald and his girlfriend Janet.
Ronald announces he has tequila. Ronald holds up the bottle while Wayne speeds away. Steven turns it down. Janet grabs the bottle and takes a swig.
Wayne announces he has magic mushrooms. Steven confirms they're not for the ride. Wayne asks if Steven is going to partake. Steven declines. Everyone makes fun of him.
Steven unrolls and holds up a baggie. It’s filled with the green crack strain of weed. Ronald tells him to spark it up. Steven starts packing a bowl. Ronald grabs the tequila bottle and takes a swig. Janet grabs the bottle back and she takes a swig.
Steven, Ronald and Janet sit around a fire on the shore of the lake. Ronald and Janet snuggle and drink from the tequila bottle. Steven smokes from a freshly-packed bowl. Wayne sets up four boomboxes in a square around the fire. He opens the “Zaireeka” box. He takes each of the four CDs and places them in the boomboxes. He takes a seat behind one of the boomboxes.
Wayne tells them to take their places. The others get up and take seats behind each of the boomboxes. Steven passes the joint to Janet. Wayne pulls a handful of mushrooms from the baggie and stuffs them in his mouth. He passes the baggie to Ronald. Ronald takes his an exchanges the baggie for the bowl. Janet eats her shrooms and offers the baggie to Steven. Steven holds up a hand. Steven declines again. Ronald jokes that Steven's a narc. Wayne says Steven is too square to be a narc. Steven smokes more weed.
Wayne tells everyone to turn the volume all the way up on their boomboxes. Everyone complies. Wayne counts down from 3 and four fingers push play on four boomboxes. Everyone sits back to listen to the music. The ethereal music starts playing.
Later, Steven, Ronald, Janet and Wayne lie on their backs, staring up at the stars and listening to the music. Towards the end of the 4th track, the music becomes a cacophony. Colorful streams energy emerge from the four boomboxes. Janet watches the energy streams rise up. Ronald and Wayne do as well. Steven doesn’t see them. Everything starts to shake--the ground, the trees, the lake.
The lights swirl together then rise directly into the sky. The shaking stops. Darkness fills the sky. Ronald thinks it's the shrooms. Janet laughs.
Four shafts of light shine down from a saucer-shaped spacecraft. The lights are green and each spotlights one of the four teens. Each of the lights hums, then turns red on Wayne, Janet and Ronald. Steven’s light stays green.
Wayne is suddenly sucked into the air and flies up and into a circular portal in the spacecraft. The portal shuts and Wayne’s light goes out.
The same thing happens to Janet. She screams until she’s inside the spacecraft, then the scream stops.
Ronald is sucked up as well. He reaches for Steven, asking for help. Steven reaches for him, but Ronald is zipped into the spacecraft. The only light left is the green light on Steven.
The light splits into two smaller lights. The new lights move over to the bag of shrooms and the bottle of tequila. Each light turns red when it spotlights the items. Then it sucks them up and into the spacecraft.
The lights turn off and the shaking returns as the craft flies away. A few seconds later, the shaking stops and Steven is left alone.
A taxi pulls up in front of Steven’s house. Steven pays the driver, then gets out. He goes inside.
The camera stays outside and shifts to time-lapse, showing the passage of time. A series of shots: A pizza delivery person gives a pizza to Jamie, who pays for it. Neighborhood kids ride by on the street. The sun goes down. The lights in the house go off one-by-one.
Jamie and Liz go to school, riding the bus. Martin leaves for work in his sedan. Nora leaves for work in her mini-SUV. A letter carrier delivers the mail. A UPS truck delivers a package. Jamie and Liz return from school. They take the package and mail inside. A group of kids plays football in the street, stopping for through traffic. Nora returns from work. A delivery driver brings them Chinese food. Nora pays for it. Martin returns home. The sun goes down. The lights in the house go off one-by-one. A loose dog walks by and stops to pee on the hydrant.
A police car parks in front of the house. Two officers get out and knock on the front door. Martin answers and they talk briefly. The officers go inside. The police bring Steven out in handcuffs and put him in the back of the police car. Martin, Nora, Liz and Jamie hug each other and cry as they watch the police car pull away.