Inspired by true events, Glow Worms is a coming-of-age story set in the summer of 1969. It is the tale of two 12-year old girls, Esther and Mim, who decide to finally beat the boys and win the Shippingport Science Fair by building a Nuclear Fission Reactor in their backyard. Along the way they enlist the help of their two best friends, Janet, a young beauty queen in the making, and Bruno, whose medical condition causes him to never feel pain. As the summer passes, our four young heroes slowly amass the equipment and knowledge needed to create a nuclear reactor, all the while, never realizing the danger they are about to unleash on themselves and their neighborhood. And the excitement reaches its suspenseful peak when the geiger counters start clicking and moon-suited federal agents burst into Esther's home to take her away!