On October 2, 1988, in the small town of Middlesex, Virginia, intellectual but troubled teenager Donald J. "Donnie" Darko has been experiencing bouts of sleepwalking and wakes up on a road before cycling home. Later that night, led by a mysterious voice, he sleepwalks out of his home. Once outside, he meets a figure in a monstrous rabbit costume whom Donnie comes to refer to as Frank who tells Donnie that the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds. Donnie wakes up the next morning on a local golf course and returns home to discover a jet engine has crashed into his bedroom. His older sister Elizabeth tells him the FAA investigators do not know its origin.