The film starts off with Ellie and her two friends, Karl and Monica, participating in a big activity with their classmates called "the Hunt." Ellie's brother Fletcher comes in and does a magic trick, but she is unimpressed and tells him to get out. Fletcher, insulted, then steals an hourglass that Ellie's dad had given to her when she was little. Her father is now deceased, and so the hourglass is very important to her.