Steven and Diane Freeling live in the planned community of Cuesta Verde, California. Steven is a successful real estate agent, and Diane looks after their three children: sixteen-year-old Dana, eight-year-old Robbie, and a five-year-old Carol Anne. One night, Carol Anne inexplicably converses with the television set while it displays post-broadcast static. The next night, she fixates on the television again, and a ghostly white hand emerges from the screen, followed by a violent earthquake. As the family is shaken awake by the quake, Carol Anne eerily intones, "They're here." The following day is filled with bizarre events: a glass of milk spontaneously breaks, silverware bends, and furniture moves on its own. These phenomena initially seem benign, but soon grow sinister.