Earl Williams (Jamieson Boulanger) is a dreamer teenager obsessed with monsters, who fantasizes his life as if he were living in the world of the monsters of the Universal Studios. Although being an excellent student, his intolerant and nasty school teacher Mrs. Perdue (Louise Fletcher) does not like him and punishes him for any minor fault. His supportive father Les Williams (Burt Reynolds) is also a dreamer, who has never been successful in life. When his father dies, his mother becomes lost with two boys, and tries to change the behavior of Earl. One day, the boy finds the "true Frankenstein" lost by a Carnival, and decides to bring the monster back to life.