Four teens from a small Colorado town will be victimized by a phantom menace one year after a July Fourth prank gone awry kills one of their buddies. Against the protestation of one of them, the group agree to keep this secret, only to find their friendships torn apart from the strain. The next Independence Day, just before the town's annual carnival, the four receive intimidating communiqués indicating someone is aware of what happened before. The group suspect the cousin of the dead friend, only to discover they are very much on the wrong track. Can the friends survive and figure out the identity of their tormentor before they end up dead themselves?