One evening, Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti), who became the superintendent of a Philadelphia apartment complex after his family was murdered, discovers Story (Bryce Dallas Howard), a naiad-like character (called a "Narf") from the Blue World, in his building's pool, immediately rescuing her from an attack by a "Scrunt", a grass-covered, wolf-like creature that hides by flattening its body against the turf.