Native American CIA Agent Emmett Proudhawk has a vision of a brilliant white light from the heavens. Afterwards, he sees a hawk, pursued by wolves, and five rabbits. The hawk is pulled down by the wolves, but the five rabbits gather together, four around one, and the hawk arises again, defeating the wolves.

When the mysterious "White Event" of July 22, 1986, at 4:22 P.M. Eastern Standard Time occured, Proudhawk's natural ESP powers are greatly increased, and he realizes the meaning of his vision as the CIA attempts to capture several children that are on a list of individuals with high scores on ESP tests.

Attempting to seek out some of these youths on his own, he quits the CIA, and along with his old CIA partner, Derek Shiningstar, tries to find seven of the youths on the list, but two have already died, and one is missing. Gathering the remaining five, Proudhawk explains his vision to them, but not before the KGB attempts to retrieve one of Proudhawk's charges, a young Soviet girl with the power to heal. Proudhawk is murdered by the Soviets, and the teens learn how to fulfill Proudhawks's vision, using his medallion to combine their powers to form a being of incredible power to defeat the Russians. Now, the teens are on the run from the government.

However, not all of the paranormals seek to escape the government, several have been recruited by their individual governments into the global organization for paranormals called the Medusa Web, which similarly seeks to use Proudhawk's former charges for their own purposes.