It is 1979, and in small town America a group of young adolescents spend their summer making a Super 8 short film to submit for a competition. As they shoot a scene in their zombie film at the local train station, they witness a real train crash, and discover a large number of curious metallic objects in the wreckage. Amidst the chaos they are warned by an injured high school teacher at the scene that all is not what it seems, and to keep silent about the crash.