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A boy named Gordon “Gordie” Lachance lives in a small town in Maine called Castle Rock. One Labor Day Weekend, Gordie plays cards in a treehouse with his friends Teddy Duchamp and Chris Chambers, when another friend of theirs, Vern Tessio, asks if they want to see a dead body. Vern explains that he overheard his older brother, Billy, talking to a friend about finding the body of Ray Brower, a local boy who went missing, by some railroad tracks in the forest. Billy doesn’t want to report the body that night just in case it comes to light that he drove to the forest in a stolen car. Gordie and his friends decide if they go find the body, they will be able to report it to the police and become town heroes. With a lie about camping in Vern’s backyard, Gordie, Teddy, Vern, and Chris set out to find Ray Brower’s body.
Gordie goes home to pick up his things. He tells his father he’s going camping in Vern’s backyard with Teddy and Chris. His parents are still reeling from the grief of losing their older son, Dennis. Gordie’s parents have always treated him as if he were invisible because they did not expect to have him, and Dennis’s death has only made their disinterest in him starker. Gordie’s dad expresses disapproval in Gordie’s choice of friends because they have bad reputations in town. However, he still allows Gordie to go camping with them.
The action of the novella is interrupted by a short story called “Stud City,” which Gordie writes in college. “Stud City” is about a teenage boy named Chico who struggles at home after his older brother Johnny’s death. He blames his father and stepmother for Johnny’s death because his stepmother sexually pursued Johnny. Johnny took a dangerous job at a racetrack to stay out of the house and dies in a car crash. Chico argues with his father about his stepmother and is thrown out of the house after his stepmother reveals Chico had a girl over. The story includes echoes of many of the details Gordie has already used to describe his childhood in the main timeline.
After packing up his things, Gordie heads back to the treehouse to meet up with his friends. On the way, Chris intercepts Gordie and leads him into an alley where he shows the gun he stole from his father. Chris dares Gordie to pull the trigger, promising the gun isn’t loaded. However, when Gordie pulls the trigger, he shoots a hole in a trashcan. As all four boys set out by the train tracks, they realize they need to get food and supplies. After stopping for water at the pump in the town dump, they flip coins to see who will go to the market for supplies. One of their early flips results in four tails, which according to local superstition means bad luck. On the next flip, only Gordie gets heads, singling him out to go get supplies. Gordie wonders if this coin flip is an omen after the boys get into shouting matches with the owner of the market and the dump-keeper Milo, who sets his dog on them. Nevertheless, the boys continue on.
