A giant metal robot falls to Earth in the 1950s, terrifying the local townspeople. The mysterious machine befriends a nine-year-old boy named Hogarth who must save it from the prejudices of the community and a paranoid government agent intent on destroying the alien visitor. Based on the 1968 story, 'Iron Man' by the British poet laureate Ted Hughes—the film is an endearing family adventure that counteracts the fear of the unknown with the power of childlike imagination.