During a bus ride to a cross country meet, Scott and his friends flash back to the events of a preemptive strike against the Alphas that has left several injured and possibly one or more dead.
Always an outsider and often unnoticed, Scott McCall yearns to be recognized in some small way that takes him out of his typical state of high school anonymity.
When his best friend, Stiles, convinces him to go into the woods one night to join a police search for a dead body, Scott encounters a creature in the darkness. Narrowly escaping an attack with a vicious bite in his side, the next day brings strange surprises for Scott at school and his life will never be the same.