Inspired by his vivid dreams of flying through space and elaborate electrical grids, and fueled by comic books and classic sci-fi, 8th-grader Ben fantasizes about a way to explore the Universe. When his friend Wolfgang manages to build a matching circuit board from Ben's hazily-sketched diagrams of his dreams, the board eerily begins to program itself, resulting in precisely the technology they need to secretly cobble together a real spacecraft in a backyard. Along with their friend Darren, they venture out of suburbia and blast into the cosmos seeking whatever alien life they can find — perhaps even something which was reaching out to them all along.