Texan Charles Farmer left the Air Force as a young man to save the family ranch when his dad died. Like most American ranchers, he owes his bank. Unlike most, he's an astrophysicist with a rocket in his barn - one he's built and wants to take into space. It's his dream. The FBI puts him under surveillance when he tries to buy rocket fuel; the FAA stalls him when he files a flight plan - it's post-9/11, after all. His wife is angry when she finds out their bank is initiating foreclosure. Charlie fears failure and decides, precipitously, to launch. Are twenty-first century American dreams just a sign of insanity? Are those who believe in dreamers only fools?

The siblings Noah and Emma travel with their mother Jo from Seattle to the family cottage in Whidbey Island to spend a couple of days while their workaholic father David Wilder is working. They find a box of toys from the future in the water and bring it home, and Emma finds a stuffed rabbit called Mimzy, and stones and a weird object, but they hide their findings from their parents. Mimzy talks telepathically to Emma and the siblings develop special abilities, increasing their intelligences to the level of genius. Their father becomes very proud when Noah presents a magnificent design in the fair of science and technology, and his teacher Larry White and his mystic wife Naomi Schwartz become interested in the boy when he draws a mandala. When Noah accidentally assembles the objects and activates a powerful generator creating a blackout in the state, the FBI arrests the family trying to disclose the mystery. But Emma unravels the importance to send Mimzy back to the future.

A sci-fi writer (Hutton) is invited to an island for a conference, only to discover that he's become lured into a trap.

Former superhero Jack Shepard, (also known as Captain Zoom), is called back to work to transform an unlikely group of ragtag kids into a new generation of superheroes at a privacy Academy and save the world from certain destruction. The project holds an audition of would-be members, most of whom possess useless or disgusting powers. In the end, Dylan, a 17-year-old boy who can turn invisible Summer, a 16-year-old girl with telekinetic powers Tucker, a 12-year-old boy with the power to enlarge any part of his body Cindy, a 6-year-old girl with super strength.