In 1962, amid a spate of unexplained disappearances of local children, a group of misfit friends begin to suspect a long-buried ancient evil lurking. As the kids set out to determine what's really going on, a rising unease prompts several townspeople to work together to restore peace – all while a U.S. military operation seeks to exploit Derry for its own objectives.

Jacob Zalman, a middle-aged Jewish man married to a non-Jewish woman, is shaken when he discovers that his teenage son has written an essay denying the Holocaust.