We are introduced to the show by Russ Willard (Jonathan Pryce), the founder of the Mercer Center for Experimental Physics, nicknamed by the local Ohio residents as “The Loop.” He explains The Loop exists to unlock and explore the mysteries of the universe, and that everyone is connected by it, so we begin one of many stories with the local residents.
Loretta (Abby Ryder Fortson), a bright young girl, comes home from school to hear her mother, Alma, has stolen a piece of The Eclipse, the power source of the Loop, to conduct an experiment. That next day, after recieving outstanding marks on a math test, Loretta heads to the MCEP to surprise her mother with the good news, but does not find her. In her search for Alma, she discovers an unusual rock that she can float in the air, befriends a boy named Cole (Duncan Joiner), meets his family, but finds no trace of Alma. She only finds her math test tucked in a box of trinkets owned by Cole’s mother, also named Loretta (Rebecca Hall). The older Loretta later makes this realization and seeks out her younger self to explain the phenomenon she had misremembered as a dream and come to terms with the unexplained disappearance of her mother. She brings young Loretta into The Loop to return the lost fragment of The Eclipse, thus returning her younger self to her time and reminding her present self to reconcile with her own child.