Smalltown rural Pennsylvania in the late 1960's.  Harriet Frankovitz, in the twilight between childhood and adolescence, dreams of escape from her colorless existence at the family-run motel where she lives with her alcoholic mother and promiscuous older sister. 

Harriet's world, peopled by not-so-genteel motel residents and classmates who label her weird, makes her long to be spirited away by UFO's or dig all the way to China-to a place where someone understands the person she really is.

Fate arrives for Harriet in the form of RICKY, a 30-year-old mentally retarded young man, passing through town with his mother when their car breaks down outside the motel.

Harriet and Ricky are uncannily drawn to one another, becoming soulmates bonded by a common sense of being misfits.  The two jointly weave a plan to alter their destinies.
 
Sadly, the secret kingdom they established and run to is eventually uncovered, and their well-intentioned but suspicious families cast doubt on the innocense of their friedship.  Yet despite the harsh resistance they meet with, the improbable pair vow to be true to each other-and to themselves.