Clancy, a young man grappling with the oppressive heat of summer and the equally stifling expectations of his father, Stew, a Vietnam veteran whose personal trauma has left him cynical and distant. Clancy's mundane day of painting a porch is shattered by the arrival of a mysterious glowing orb that crash-lands in a nearby cemetery. It appears to him alone. This orb, identifying itself as "The Harbinger," declares Clancy the chosen "guardian" of Earth. And, if that's not enough, Clancy has to find a job and move out as soon as he can.