Caleb Jenkins is a bullied middle schooler that everyone calls Clay Boy, due to the way he uses clay therapy to cope with the tragic murder of his mother at the hands of a serial killer. While at school, he discovers a playful video on how to create an imaginary best friend called a tulpa, but the more he interacts with his mental creation the more real and self-thinking it becomes, eventually convincing Caleb to sculpt a body for it to inhabit in order to unleash the hate that both share upon his bullies and the entire community of Wheeler's Cove, Tennessee.