Brothers Jake and Ethan witness something crashing to earth and discover that it is a satellite of some kind. Being broke, they collect it and sell it to the local scrap dealer, Earl. Earl, meanwhile, has built an 18 foot "Golem" out of scrap iron to be used in the local town parade. The satellite is infected with some type of space bacteria which feeds on metal and also causes said metal to become animated. The result is that the Golem becomes infected, comes alive, and begins killing people by sucking the metals from their body with just a touch. Jake must find a way to defeat the Golem and save the town.

An unexplained, local split in the atmosphere causes a series of total unpredictable, yet devastating tornadoes. Rookie fireman Brian Flynn gets trapped in the underground sewage with his girlfriend, deputy mayor James 'Jim' Lawrence and climatologist Dr. Cassie Lawrence's niece Lori. Mayor Leonardo of New York initially refuses to pay proper attention to the phenomenon, a 'reelection threat', so the alert status remains too low for long. Atypical lightning discovered inside tornadoes adds unprecedented dangers. The Lawrences and aeronautics renegade Dr. Lars Liggenhorn conceive a possible solution by launching rockets, but NASA's Dr. Quinn overrules them, imposing standard silver iodine.