An alien on a mission to Earth crash lands and finds himself in the remote mountain town of Patience, Colorado. After assuming human form and taking the identity of a doctor, Harry Vanderspeigle, the alien works in Patience's clinic, struggling to blend in with the humans and understand their baffling traditions and emotions, all while trying to complete his mission. But to do that, Harry will have to outwit the one child in town who can see through his disguise and outrun the secret government agents hunting for him.