Prior to 1983, Hawkins, Indiana was a largely quiet and uneventful town. The greatest point of interest was the secretive Hawkins National Laboratory, one of several national laboratories which grew out of the scientific endeavors of World War II. Unknown to the residents of the town, the lab was contributing to the controversial government program known as MKUltra.

Will encounters the creature from the Upside Down and mysteriously vanishes while cycling home from a Dungeons & Dragons session with his friends Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson and Lucas Sinclair.

While searching for Will in the woods, Mike, Dustin and Lucas come across Eleven, a young girl with telekinetic abilities. Mike formulates a plan for Eleven to pretend to be a runaway and seek help from his mother Karen, but Eleven refuses, revealing that "bad people" are after her.

In 1982, The Clash released their fifth studio album Combat Rock, including the track "Should I Stay or Should I Go". That same year, Jonathan Byers incorporated the song into an eclectic mixtape, which he gave to his younger brother. While trapped in the Upside Down, Will sings the song to calm himself.

After reluctantly agreeing to drive Nancy to a party at Steve's house, Barb attempts to shotgun a beer can, opening it with a knife in order to fit in with the others, but she accidentally cuts her hand. As she rushes to the bathroom to bandage her hand, the others barely seem to care.

Hopper doesn't seem to care much about his job, as he regularly sleeps in and drinks and shows up late for work. It isn't until Will Byers goes missing and he discovers some sort of government cover-up that Hopper begins to take his job seriously.

Eleven wanders into Benny's Burgers in a hospital gown. Benny catches her stealing fries, but shows some compassion and feeds her. After calling social services, he attempts to make conversation until a woman shows up and shoots him in the back of the head.

Jennifer was a minor character who went to Hawkins Middle School. She attended Will's funeral where she was seen crying by Dustin, hinting that she may have a crush on him.

Joyce believes Will is communicating through pulses in light bulbs. She builds an alphabetic board on her wall with Christmas lights, allowing Will to sign to her that he is "RIGHT HERE" and that she needs to "RUN".

All four of the boys wear Ghostbusters costumes, fully equipped with homemade Proton Packs and Ghost Traps, but Mike is upset because there are two Venkmans. He had assumed Lucas would be Winston.