Three teenagers, confined to an isolated country estate that could very well be on another planet, spend their days listening to endless homemade tapes that teach an unfathomable new vocabulary. Any word from beyond their abode is instantly assigned a new meaning; hence 'the sea' refers to a large armchair and 'zombies' are little yellow flowers. Having invented a brother they claim was ostracized for disobedience, the uber-controlling parents terrorize their offspring into submission.