Firestarter

Plots: A couple who participated in a potent medical experiment gain telepathic ability and then have a child who is pyrokinetic. Andrew and Vicky McGee met while earning money as guinea pigs for an experiment at college. The experiment was shrouded in suspicion and mystery, and seemed to be related to psychic abilities. The two were married and had a daughter, Charlie, who has the ability to start fires by merely thinking about it, also known as pyrokinesis. Naturally, the government takes a great interest in Charlie, and operatives from the secret department known as “The Shop” want to quarantine and study her. Andy McGee met his future wife, Vicky, in college while they were earning money by participating in an experiment in which they were given a dose of a low-grade hallucinogen called LOT-6. The experiment granted them Telepathic abilities; Vicky was given the ability to read minds. Andy can take over people’s minds, and make them do and believe what he wants, but the effort gives him nosebleeds. Andy and Vicky went on to get married, and they now have a 9-year-old daughter named Charlene “Charlie” McGee, who has Pyrokinetic ability — she can start fires with her mind. Charlie can also see the near future. A secret government department called the Department of Scientific Intelligence (aka “The Shop”) did the experiment, which was overseen by Dr. Joseph Wanless. Andy comes home from work one day, to find that Vicky has been murdered. A devastated Andy finds two men outside, about to load an unconscious Charlie into a vehicle. The two men were sent by the Shop. The McGee family had already suspected that the Shop was watching them. The Shop wants to harness Charlie’s pyrokinetic ability as a military weapon. Andy rescues Charlie from the two men. Enraged at the men for killing Vicky and trying to kidnap Charlie, Andy uses his ability to blind the two men. For the next year, Andy and Charlie are on the run. To protect themselves, Andy writes letters to major newspapers, but mailing the letters reveals their location. While on the run, they need to rest, and they end up taken in by farmer Irv Manders and his wife Norma. Andy and Irv talk truthfully so when The Shop arrives, Irv is ready to stand with Andy and Charlie. But he soon sees that there is no need to do so, as Charlie uses her ability to make quick work of the Shop agents who have invaded the quiet refuge that they’ve found. Charlie and Andy are again on the run, but Andy is weak from the use of his ability. They go to a secluded cabin to rest, and prepare to finally go public with their story. Captain Hollister, a high-ranking agent from the Shop, sends an assassin named John Rainbird to capture them and stop the release of information. Rainbird uses a tranquilizer gun to subdue Andy and Charlie when they leave the cabin. After capture, Andy and Charlie are kept separated from each other at the Shop’s facility. Andy is medicated and subjected to tests, which show that his ability has weakened. Rainbird takes on the role of “John the friendly orderly” to befriend Charlie and gain her trust to encourage her to allow her ability to be tested. Rainbird also has his own disturbing interest in Charlie. Charlie’s powers increase exponentially, and she continually demands to see Andy as the Shop had promised her, but one of Dr. Wanless’s partners, Dr. Pynchot, tells his colleagues that Andy and Charlie must never see each other again, but Hollister seems to think that that’s going too far. Dr. Pynchot tells Hollister that Charlie does whatever Andy tells her to do, and Dr. Pynchot fears that Andy could tell Charlie to use her ability to destroy the Shop. What Wanless and his group underestimate is what Andy and Charlie are willing to do to protect each other as they try to figure out how to escape.