Davey Osborne is an 11-year-old boy living in San Antonio, Texas. His father, Hal, is a military air traffic controller, who has problems relating to his son. Davey imagines the fantasy world of "Cloak & Dagger", an espionage role-playing video game existing between fiction and reality. Davey befriends Kim, a girl living nearby. Davey reveres Jack Flack, the game's main character, who he imagines as a more dashing version of his father. He wants to live an action-packed life like Jack, and he carries around a water pistol as his "gun" and a softball as his "grenade". Davey spends much time playing the game and spending time with Jack as an imaginary friend.