Bobbi Sue Baxter longs for the summer of 1988 to be over so she can leave her boring hometown of Wildcat Springs behind forever. Start using her journalism degree on stories with some excitement. She has no idea more excitement than she's ever wanted is about to come after her. On her way home from a movie, Bobbi Sue stops to help an injured dog and spots what looks like an alien. A blinding light flashes, and when Bobbi Sue can see again, the creature is gone. Did she really see . . .? No! Impossible. She says nothing to anyone, especially not to her conspiracy-obsessed father. But when Bobbi Sue slips and tells her friend, Hemingway "Hemi" Miller, he shows her a story from Close Encounters in the USA. It's about a man who reported an experience nearly identical to hers. And when well-known townsman, Ross Garland is found shot dead close to where she saw the "alien," Bobbi Sue knows she can't stay quiet. The only problem is, the person behind the murder is intent on her doing exactly that, no matter what it takes.