In 1971, an eight-year-old finds out that his parents are going to have another child. The boy doesn't care much; the only things he cares about at that time are monsters. His family lives in a two-bedroom apartment in Chicago. The highlight of his week is watching "Creature Features", a Saturday night show that airs a different monster movie each week. The monsters remind the boy of certain groups of kids at his school. There are the popular ones, like the Frankensteins and Draculas, and the less popular ones, like the Mummies and Creatures from the Black Lagoon. The boy wants to spend time with the popular ones, so he is just as annoyed when a mummy appears on the screen as when an unpopular boy calls him. One Sunday night, the boy bikes over to his epileptic neighbor Eileen's house. They both love watching and talking about "Creature Features". However, when Eileen asks him when he is finally going to kiss her, the boy hops back on his bike and pedals away. One day, the boy's father brings home some encyclopedias, in case the boy wants to learn more about his mother's pregnancy. When he opens the entry about pregnancy, he is so horrified that he screams. The boy notices himself become a different person. One day, he tears up the last card in another boy's card collection. Another day, he sprays silly string all over his friend's face. One Saturday night, the boy bikes to Eileen's house to watch "Creature Features". She kisses him, and it's not as bad as the boy thought it would be. However, when she places her hand under his t-shirt, he pushes away, claiming that he'd rather watch the movie. Eileen is upset, sobbing that she is epileptic, that she could die any day, and that the boy wouldn't even care. Then, to his great surprise, she reveals that she doesn't even like monsters. She storms out of the room, and the boy bikes back to his house. When he gets home, he discovers a note from his parents: they went to the hospital to have the baby. He watches "Frankenstein" and feels guilty about Eileen, so he devises a plan to get her back. However, a neighbor yells at him to open the door or pick up the phone, because his mom just had a baby girl. Something inside the TV explodes, and the boy feels sure that he is going to knock on Eileen's door the next day with a box of chocolates. Thinking of his new sister, he holds out his hands, as if to catch a falling baby, and yells, "It's alive! It's alive!"