1951: On a bright Washington D.C. day, a flying saucer lands on the grassy fields of a baseball complex, and from the belly of the craft comes Klaatu (Michael Rennie), a humanoid alien adorned in a space suit. Surrounded by military personnel and hundreds of civilians, Klaatu is wounded in an accidental shooting by an overzealous soldier. A second, larger, more menacing figure then emerges from the craft, a robot named Gort, with the ability to vaporize the soldier's weapons. Klaatu is able to miraculously recover from his wounds while in the care of human doctors. His wish to meet with the world's leaders is rejected, and Klaatu escapes from this hospital room in search of someone who may be willing to hear his reasons for landing on Earth. He rents a room where he meets Helen Benson (Patricia Neal) and her son Bobby (Billy Gray), whom he befriends, and from whom he learns much of Earth's history and culture. Klaatu ultimately meets with the world's foremost scientific mind, professor Barnhardt (Sam Jaffe), and tells him that his people fear the threat aggressive humans with the power of the harnessed atom may eventually pose to their home world. Will humanity listen to reason, or will Klaatu continue to be treated as an enemy, proving his point and possibly spelling the eventual destruction of all mankind? 2008: Renowned scientist Dr. Helen Benson finds herself face to face with an alien called Klaatu, who travels across the universe to warn of an impending global crisis. When forces beyond Helena's control treat the extraterrestrial as a hostile and deny his request to address the world's leaders, she and her estranged stepson Jacob quickly discover the deadly ramifications of Klaatu's claim that he is "a friend to the Earth". Now Helen must find a way to convince the entity who was sent to destroy us that mankind is worth saving--but it may be too late. The process has begun.