In a town in Indiana, Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) while investigating a strange power outage in the town he witnesses a UFO that flies above him and gives him a special sunburn as proof. His wife and kids think he's nuts especially hearing strange musical notes in his head from that experience and becomes obsessed with what he's seen. A single mother named Jillian (Melinda Clarke) who's son was abducted by a UFO also helps with Roy and other ones that have encountered the strange Unidentified Flying Object especially French researcher Claude Lacombe (Francois Trauffaut) has a believe that music can be a language of the strange beings. The witnesses including the government and researchers head to Devil's Peak in Wyoming to make a special meeting place to meet the alien beings.