Plot
Dr. Jennifer Stillman, a psychologist from New York, relocates to the quiet town of Sierra Vista, Nevada, to work as a school therapist. Her arrival is marked by immediate friction with the local authorities, and on her first day, an unsettling encounter with a peculiar boy at a school crosswalk leaves her feeling uneasy. This initial incident only foreshadows a series of troubling events that await her. She soon finds herself at odds with Principal Ed Turner, who openly disapproves of her therapeutic approach, and notices that most of the townspeople are cold or even outright unfriendly towards her. Sheriff Ken adds to her discomfort, subjecting her to unwarranted harassment as if testing her resilience as a newcomer.
Despite the overall hostility, Jennifer finds an ally in Della Divelbuss, the assertive school nurse, and the two women strike up a friendship. Even so, Jennifer is baffled by the town’s pervasive suspicion. At first, she suspects her outsider status is to blame, but she gradually senses a more sinister undercurrent. The deeper she probes into Sierra Vista’s social fabric, the more she suspects the townspeople are guarding a secret they will go to great lengths to keep hidden.
Matters become more complicated when young Ben McCann-Miller begins therapy with her. Ben, whose mother died under mysterious circumstances and who now lives with his adoptive father, believes with absolute certainty that he is half-alien and that his extraterrestrial father will eventually take him to another world. Both Ben and his adoptive father, the town physician Dr. Michael McCann, are withdrawn, and Dr. McCann is openly skeptical of therapy. As Jennifer becomes more acquainted with the town’s residents, she encounters increasingly bizarre situations. She learns that Ben harbors painful secrets about his past and that the townspeople are especially wary of outsiders who ask too many questions. Her investigation into a series of odd occurrences leads her to consider, against her better judgment, that Ben’s wild story about his alien heritage might contain some truth.
Panic grips Sierra Vista when a mysterious creature begins killing residents. The number of victims steadily increases, intensifying the town’s fear. Ultimately, Jennifer uncovers that the so-called “alien” is targeting those complicit in Ben’s mother’s murder—a crime committed because the townspeople believed she was a dangerous psychic. Although they recognized that Ben possessed the same abilities, they stopped short of harming him. In the end, it is revealed that the “alien” is not an extraterrestrial being, but a tangible manifestation of Ben’s own traumatized subconscious, shaped by the secrets and tragedies that have haunted him.
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