He proceeds to a railroad crossing and pulls to a screeching stop to once again check his map. Another set of bright lights approaches behind him - they illuminate the interior of his truck with brilliant light. Again, he waves the vehicle past while engrossed in studying his map.
But instead of going around, the intense lights rise straight up like a rocket above his truck. The first indication that something isn't right occurs when his flashlight catches sight of a row of rattling, jiggling mailboxes moving back and forth like they were in an earthquake. Suddenly, his flashlight, radio and other electrical lights shut off.
From above, his truck is bathed in blinding, powerful rays of luminescent light. An array of colorful lights overwhelms his sight, and a deep-toned, thunderous, musical vibration envelopes his truck.
There is an apparent loss of all gravitational force - the railroad crossing signal rocks back and forth, the electrical system indicators in the cab dashboard go haywire and smoke, and debris flies randomly around the interior of the cab. And then, just as suddenly as it began, the vibrations and rockings of the visitation cease, and the lights blink out. After all the commotion, the stillness is deafening - a lone dog barks off in the distance.
Roy trembles, leans forward, and peers upwards through his windshield, glancing at a gigantic, slow-moving, flying object in the night sky. For an instant, a narrow beam of intense light shines down on a stop light further down the road. He nearly suffers a heart attack when his flashlight suddenly turns back on. His truck's engine, radio, and electrical system instruments all begin functioning again. Half his face is now red, as if he had been sunburned. He tunes in to a flood of reports about fantastic sightings and other UFO encounters.
Trembling, but interested in pursuing the unidentified phenomenon, Roy takes off in pursuit without a second thought. The moon's light casts an ominous shadow of the UFO over his infinitesimally-small truck as he drives through the rural countryside. Excited by his experience, but not knowing the meaning of his new-found obsession, he recklessly races through the night toward Harper Valley.
In another area of the greater Muncie, Indiana landscape, little Barry has wandered away from home and trekked down the center of a remote country road on a hilltop - Crescendo Summit. He comes upon four simple folk in a family - they are peaceful and friendly - inexplicably drawn to watch the skies. The father is whistling in familiar anticipation: "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain."
The little stranger timidly waves at them. At that moment, Jill scrambles up from the side of the road and spots Barry - but he is in the path of Neary's fast-moving truck speeding around the bend. Jillian dives and tackles her transfixed son to save him from being hit in the truck's path. Roy races to them after braking and fighting his truck for control.
Roy: Oh, my God! Lady! Are you okay? I'm sorry. I didn't see him. He was in the middle of the road.
Unshaken by the incident, Barry breaks free from his mother's arms and dashes out into the hill-top road again - while calling out to the sky.
Barry: Hello. Come here. . . Play with me.
As they stand there, a squadron of three rumbling, high-speed, multi-colored vehicles - each with a different configuration of lights - come over the horizon and fly low over the road.
The objects gracefully pass over them in a smooth, sweeping motion and vanish around the bend. A smaller, glowing red spot of light, akin to Tinker Bell, trails the other flying objects.
Jillian, Roy, and the boy witness three of the alien spacecraft, apparently controlled by intelligent beings.
Barry [yells after them]: Ice cream!
The old man of the family reverentially opines.
Old Man: They can fly rings around the moon, but we're years ahead of them on the highway.
The undulating wailing of police car sirens are heard in the distance - Jillian moves off the road just in time - three police cars scream around the bend in pursuit of the colorful objects.
Roy [astounded]: This is nuts!
Roy decides to follow the caravan of police cars in his truck, heading for the Ohio State Line toll booth. The UFO's fly through the toll booth, setting off alarms, closely followed by the police cars and Roy's truck. The patrol car driver in the lead car is mesmerized by the high-speed caravan of UFO's and their flying lights.
Officer: Jesus...Look at that! Look at those suckers. They're glued to the road!
At a hair-pin turn, the objects shoot up and over the guardrail and sail off into the heavens. The first pursuit car follows the objects and goes airborne for a few moments before crashing below. The other vehicles screech to a halt at the guard rail on the cliffside.
The fantastic lights in the sky fuse to become one while they recede, and then at a tremendous velocity, they split into three points of light before climbing and disappearing into the cloud cover. The clouds are illuminated by bursts of light from within just before the electrical lights of the city are restored across the horizon. Returning home at four in the morning, Roy is ecstatic and wakens his sleepy wife, unable to calm down
Roy: Honey, Ronnie. Wake up. You're not gonna believe what I saw!...I never would have believed it. There was this, uh, in the cab, there was this...it was a red whoosh.
Sleepily, she tells him that he has been instructed to call the power department immediately.
Ronnie: I think you'd better call them.
He is so excited that he cannot find words to explain his experience to her.
Roy: You know, those pictures in the National Geographic about the Aurora Borealis. This was better than that. Ronnie, I need you to see something with me. It's really important.
He also awakens the kids.
Roy: Silvia, come on. We're going on a little adventure. Toby! Brad! Come on. Get up. Up!...It's better than Goofy Golf!
As he bundles everyone into his truck, Ronnie notices that the left side of Roy's face is sunburned and beet red.
Ronnie: Roy, you're sunburned! Look at you!
At the spot on the road on Crescendo Summit where he saw the indescribable objects, Roy tries to describe what he witnessed:
Ronnie: Roy, what did it look like?
Roy: It was like an ice cream cone.
Ronnie: What flavor?
Roy: Orange. It was orange - and it wasn't like an ice cream cone. It was, it was more like a shell. You know, it was like this.
Ronnie: Like a taco? Was it like one of those Sara Lee, um, moon-shaped cookies? Those crescent cookies? . . . Don't you think I'm taking this really well? I remember when we used to come to places like this just to look at each other and snuggle.
After many smaller kisses, Ronnie gets Roy's mind off the skies for a few moments, and they snuggle together. But his life-transforming experience is foremost on his mind.
Gobi Desert, Mongolia: Native Mongolians with rifles slung over their shoulders, while leading camels through the desert, witness three white vehicles, marked UN and flying blue UN flags, as they zoom over a sand dune in the Gobi Desert.
The vehicles are pursued by two military helicopters, as they are directed toward an amazing sight.
A stranded freighter named COTOPAXI lying in the deep sand. Everyone is in disbelief and question why it is there.
The following morning, Ronnie cuts out a middle column comprised of two articles in THE MUNCIE STAR newspaper: "State Police See Lights Too, Fail to Cite Sky Speeders," and "UFO's Over Five Counties - Indiana Buzzing." Knowing that the articles are intriguing - and that they confirm what Roy saw, she has second thoughts and crumples up the clipping. Because one half of his face is burnt red in color, one of the family's children thinks he looks like a 50-50 bar.
After jokingly scaring his kids by foaming at the mouth with toothpaste, he sprays a mound of shaving cream into his hand. Roy stares at it and begins his obsession with the recurring, imprinted image of the shape of a huge mountain. His mad pre-occupation with the late-night experience alienates and strains his family life and drives a wedge between Roy and his wife.
Roy: Ronnie, all I wanna do is, is, is know what's goin' on.
Ronnie: But nothin's going on. It's just one of those things.
Roy: Which things? Which things?
Ronnie: I don't want to hear about this anymore.
Roy: Ronnie, this is very important. I'm not just gonna let it lay here. I'm gonna call somebody about this...I saw something last night that I can't explain.
Ronnie: I saw something last night I can't explain.
Roy: I'm going out there again tonight, you know.
Ronnie: No, you're not.
Roy: Yes, I am.
Ronnie: No, you're not.
Roy: Yes, I am.
Ronnie: No, you're not.
She smashes his cupped hand with shaving cream into his mouth.
Ronnie takes a phone call, and is told, unexpectedly, that Roy has been fired because of his irresponsibility - he didn't call in to the department to report.
Ronnie: Well, can't you tell him about this?
The boss hangs up.
Ronnie: I can't believe it. Roy. You got fired. They didn't even want to talk to you. I mean, I don't understand this, Roy. Roy? What is happening here? We were up all night. I'm not getting a job you know. I'm not getting a day job.
As Roy lies on his bed and listens to Ronnie, he becomes more and more withdrawn into his own world. Her voice is muted in the background as he turns his face away and looks at an upright pillow - again seeing the familiar shape and image of a contoured mound. Instinctively, he reaches out toward the outline of the shape to understand it, he tells her. . .
Roy: That's not right.
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