The morning after Hurricane Leo rips through the town of Canaan, residents awaken to widespread destruction тАФ power outages, downed branches, uprooted trees, broken windows and damaged roofs. Four eighth-grade friends тАФ Evan, Jason, Mitchell, and CJ тАФ meet to explore the devastation. The tight-knit group is dismayed to find that Evan has brought along a stray тАФ Ricky, who is new to their town and school, and doesnтАЩt have any friends yet.
Ricky is the one to find the strange trap door thatтАЩs appeared in the middle of the woods тАФ the door to an old bomb shelter, unearthed by the hurricane. Inside, the boys find a completely intact underground lair, complete with electricity, food, and entertainment (in the form of videocassettes). The boys vow to keep the placeтАЩs existence to themselves.
Things soon get tense. Some bad locals keep snooping around. And what started out as a fun place to escape soon becomes a serious refuge for one of the kids who is trying to avoid an abusive home situation. In order to save the shelter, the friends must keep its secret... and in order to save themselves, theyтАЩre going to have to share their individual secrets, and build the safest place they can.