The series begins on November 6th, 1983, in the small quiet town of Hawkins Indiana with four best friends, Mike Wheeler, Will Byers, Lucas Sinclair, and Dustin Henderson are playing a long game of Dungeons and Dragons, after the game the boys head home on their bikes. Will lives the furthest of the boys and when heading home by himself encounters a monstrous enemy after witnessing unusual activity and flickering lights around the Hawkins Laboratory. The monster follows him home and Will mysteriously vanish. 

A little girl with telekinetic powers escapes from Hawkins Laboratory, where she was subjected to experiments and finds herself at a local diner. We find out that this diner belongs to Benny Hammond, he feeds the girl and calls social services. We learn the girl’s name is Eleven but when the social services arrive, they are revealed to be lab agents and they take him out. Eleven escapes to the woods. When in the woods Mike, Lucas, and Dustin meet Eleven and take her to Mike’s house. This episode builds a more ominous and tense atmosphere showing how the story is going to play out. 

Joyce, Will’s mom, is in a frantic panic not knowing where her son is and goes to the police station where we meet the police chief Jim Hopper. Joyce argues with Jim, making him go into a deep and serious investigation to help find her son. The tone of the episode is bold with a mystery and intriguing about where Will went and what took him.