The teens of Grantsville, New Mexico, don't have a lot to do during the long hot Summers. Too old for stories of "Shiny Man" with his missing face and bottomless pockets for stealing children, or the vampire who supposedly used to live in the big ranch house back in the 70s. The new USAF tracking station has certainly revitalised the town, but it's not exactly a tourist attraction. Back in the 80s, plucky kids breaking into a military place was commonplace, but in a post-9/11 world it'll just get you shot. Meaning the so-called Alpha Kids are at a loose end and looking for a suitably interesting distraction to keep them occupied. Lucky for them some odd new people have moved in across the street...

In the small, quintessentially English village of Devesham during the 1980s life is quiet, routine and, to the local children, boring. There’s always a game of cricket happening on the village green, the police constable rides a bicycle, as does the vicar, and everybody knows everybody. The most exciting thing to happen in recent times was Mrs Wilson controversially winning the church baking contest for an unprecedented fourth year in a row.
Today the village children, as they always do during the endless Summer holidays, have gathered under the old oak tree at the edge of the green, and each of them has a story to tell...