In 1957, Navy Lieutenant Alex Gardener, a post World War II cryptologist, was summoned to a base in the middle of the Nevada desert to decipher a set of alien symbols found in the UFO that crashed in Roswell, New Mexico. The symbols revealed the true identity of the alien creatures - an identity far more disturbing than anyone wanted to know. After being chased by secretive agents, Alex is forced to leave the symbols hidden away for 55 years until his grand-daughter Kate finds them. The symbols program Kate to risk her own life in order to save the human species.