When twelve year old genius Andrew Yeager, is advanced to the eleventh grade in his California school, he quickly finds himself alienated by his classmates. His extraordinary IQ, coupled with the fact that he wears a leg brace on a withered leg, makes him an easy target for the class 'jocks' who rag him relentlessly about being a "smart-ass geek, and probably a ferry to boot."

However, at the end of that dreadful school year things change radically when his scientist father inherits a multi-million dollar estate in the wilds of northern Georgia. When the family flies east to investigate the incredible estate, young Andrew discovers a magical pond in a forest on the property. Forbidden by his father to swim in the water until he can have a sample evaluated by a professional, young, headstrong Andrew surrenders to an overwhelming urge and disobeys his father. As he enters the pond, he is shocked to find the water extremely warm, and soon feels an odd tingling sensation all over his body. Rapidly growing comfortable with the odd but delightful sensations, he decides to explore the pond's bottom. His subsequent investigation leads to the discovery of an eerie light at the pond's deepest point. Overcome with curiosity, he extends his hand toward the light. As the tingling sensation he has felt on the surface increases dramatically, he finds he cannot withdraw his hand. In the longest moment of his life, he is drawn headlong into a nightmarish phenomenon that will forever alter everything in his young life...as well as the lives of all those he meets in the parallel world into which he soon awakens.