The most famous UFO event in history was the discovery of a crashed flying saucer and alien bodies outside Roswell, New Mexico in July, 1947. The military put out a press release saying they had recovered a flying disk, but recanted the next day. In the following covered up they removed the bodies and debris, threatened the local population into silence, and switched pieces of a weather balloon for the crash material in a big press event. The most important interplanetary incident in history remained buried for years. But what if someone snuck material out of the crash site and it was hidden in a secret location. And, what if the only person who could figure out that location was a 14-year old girl:Mel has just moved in next door. She wears sleeveless t-shirts, jeans, converse sneakers, and throws a really mean curve ball, but that doesn't stop Frankie from falling for her. It is the summer of 1966 and there have been a rash of UFO sightings across the country.

With their friend Beanie, Mel and Frankie plan a hoax to make a fake UFO and launch it over Oswego Lake. It ends in disaster, catching a tree and a house on fire. But before anyone finds out what they did, strange things happen. There is a UFO sighting in the area, a reported landing, and the apparent abduction of the neighbor from the very house they burned. It becomes national news and throws the little town of Lake Oswego into a frenzy.How could this all start with their little hoax? The kids have to find out. Each clue helps them uncover how Mel's father really died, and why, and sets them on a path that involves the most famous UFO crash in history, the United States Air Force, and international espionage. Every step leads the kids toward unearthing a long-kept secret that puts them in great danger.