Mon, Sep 7th — Labour Day
Joshua Palmer and his father drive from Dawson City in their campervan. His dad reassures him that working at the Kildown mines will be better than panning for gold and the climate will be warmer than the Yukon.
Brent "Lurch" Lurchman and his father drive from Edmonton with little else than their rusty old pickup. His father also assures work will be steady and air will be fresher.
Billie Dean, his older sister Unknown, younger brother Unknown, and their father drive from Chicago in their station wagon with the moving truck following. The siblings squabble in the back whilst complaining about leaving Chicago, the city, and the US for a small backwater Canadian town.
The Deans stop at a McDonald's on the way. Billie notices a black towncar park next to them and a man dressed in black leather and shades, with feathered hair gets out, takes out a large dufflebag, and puts it into a yellow Corvette Stingray. A lady dressed in matching red leather also gets out of the towncar and together they drive away in the Corvette.
Billie finds a 20-dollar bill caught under their wiper, but Sam snatches it from him.
The Palmers arrive in Kildown township after their week-long trek. They setup their camper in the trailer park. Josh goes out exploring. He meets a couple of roughneck local teens whom aren't too welcoming.
The Lurchmans move into their rundown shotgun shack; kitchen, living room, one bedroom in a straight line one behind the other. Brent takes off looking to get away for a while.
The Deans arrive in the community of Nieuw Vennep and start moving into their 4 bedroom Dutch Colonial home. Billie immediately finds his room has been broken into through the window and the wall had been graffitied with a large sideways K and "Kilroy was here". He's forced to share with his brother for the time being.
Josh and Brent run into each other. Together, they decide to go to the cornerstore. There, Brent tells Josh to distract the store owner. The owner tells Josh about the Down; the mountain of Kildown, and the supposedly magic Kilhorn stone at its peak. Brent sneakily grabs a ton of candy and they both take off without being noticed.
Not far down the road, while snacking on their loot, RCMP Sheriff Maybach drives up to them in his Bronco and questions the newcomers. After some idle chit-chat he drives off without suspicion.
Tired of moving, Billie and Sam walk around town to find something to do. Sam finds girls to make friends with and immediately ditches Billie. Billie takes off across the Polder and meets the youger boy, Taylor. Bored with nothing to do, Billie allows Taylor to show him what he finds fun. They ride Taylor's bike to the lakeshore bluffs and shows Billie the cave paintings. Taylor then shows Billie fishing.
After a while of walking, Josh and Brent have reached the foot of the Down and decide not to climb it today.
They are then met by the two teens that Josh had met earlier. Bored, the larger boy, calling himself Jaeger, challenges Brent to a scrap. Brent goes for a haymaker only for Jaeger to step aside from. But Brent then wheels around and uppercuts Jaeger, sending him crashing over their bikes. Jaeger concedes and they take off.
Billie returns home, much to the chagrin of his family, he reeks of fish.
Tue, Sep 8th — School Orientation
The kids meet at the school for their orientation. Josh and Brent reunite while they meet Billie and his sister Sam. The two boys are instantly infatuated by the sight of Sam, whom doesn't give either of them any notice.
A black towncar drives up to the school and the driver gets out. He's an old but scary-looking asian man, with a visible scar down the side of his face across his eye, and he's missing a couple fingers on one hand. He opens the passenger door for an asian boy their age, wearing a high-collar black uniform jacket and hair slicked back in a pomp. The punk boy walks straight past the group without even looking at them.
A woman and girl their age walk out of the school. The woman introduces them a Principal Martin (in the French accent) and Alana Downey, class representative and daughter of the mayor.
They lead the group on a tour of the school facilities: teacher's office, nurse's office, library, cafeteria/auditorium/gymnasium/mezzanine, shop class, art studio, science lab, computer lab (literally just a closet with shelves of old equipment and a single Apple II on a stack of milk crates). Then finally the Principal shows Sam her homeroom while Alana shows the rest of the group their homeroom.
Not much to see in the homeroom except for the little statues on top of the teacher's desk.
Billie then asks to see the music room, telling that he's a jazz musician. Alana gleefully shows them the room and the instrument closet. Billie takes a trumpet and woos Alana with his music skill.
The kids then ask Alana if there's anything to do in this boring little town. She mentions the end of summer bush party on Saturday up at Juno Lake, then she shows them the beach not far from the school.
They see the wide vista of Waupoos Lake and Dog Island in the middle of it. Alana says no one's allowed to go to the island, yet at that moment they see a boat motor directly to it.
They immediately look to the marina docks and see a yellow Corvette parked nearby. They check out the Corvette to find nothing's inside and no one's around.
Billie gets the idea to go for a joyride, against troublemaker Brent's better judgement. Josh and Billie manage to break into the car and hotwire it. All the while, Alana in a smittened state follows along with Billie. After a failed attempt to start by Brent, Billie jumps behind the wheel and they rocket off down Marathon road at 200kph.
Halfway to Burwash, they come upon a moose walking across the road. Unbelievably to Billie's luck, he masterfully avoids the moose and continues on.
But then the Sheriff sees the brightly speeding Corvette and starts pursuing. Though he knows his Bronco can't catchup with the Corvette, he plays the long game.
Upon seeing the Sheriff the kids immediately decide to ditch the car as soon as they break sight of the Sheriff. They pass over a hill and turn down a road, stopping in front of the fence to the mines.
They get out, Brent books it straight for the trees and keeps going, while Josh is not so fast and Billie realises he left Alana. Billie grabs Alana and the three of them hide behind a mobile generator the same moment the Sheriff pulls up.
He checks out the car, but hears the distressed Alana squeal. Billie thinks fast and make it look like they've been making out. Recognising the mayor's daughter and Josh from yesterday, the Sheriff questions, but the two boys' charm outmatch his interrogative skills. He reluctantly lets them go and deals with the Corvette.
Though the whole trip at 200kph only took 5 minutes, now they have to take a 4 hour walk to get back. Alana in an upset state marches ahead of them with acknowledging them.
They rejoin with Brent and the three decide to go to Billie's house instead. On the way, they pass an abandoned mansion, but keep on moving.
They reach Billie's house and get scolded by Sam. Mr Dean then gives Josh and Brent a ride to their homes.