In 2007, a spaceship crash-lands in Brightburn, Kansas on a farm owned by Tori and Kyle Breyer, who have been having difficulties conceiving a child. Inside the ship is an infant child which the couple adopt and name Brandon. They hide the spaceship in their barn's cellar to hide the truth from him.
Ten years later, the ship begins transmitting an alien message, drawing Brandon to it. He sleepwalks to the barn and tries to open the locked cellar, chanting the craft's message, but Tori intervenes and takes him back to the house. The next day as he attempts to mow the lawn, Brandon has difficulty starting the mower and inadvertently launches it hundreds of feet. He approaches it, curious about his newfound strength, and stops the motorized blade with his hand.
Nearing puberty, Brandon is an extremely high achiever at his school, which other students tease him about but a girl named Caitlyn defends him. While celebrating Brandon's 12th birthday at a diner where Caitlyn's mother, Erica, is the waitress, his uncle Noah and aunt Merilee give him a hunting rifle, which Kyle refuses to let Brandon have. Brandon causes a scene, so Kyle and Tori leave with him.
Kyle suspects something is wrong with Brandon and finds him absentmindedly chewing and mangling his fork at breakfast. Tori finds photos of lingerie and swimsuit models, surgical diagrams, and graphic photos of human organs in Brandon's room. Brandon, Kyle, and Tori take a camping trip and Kyle attempts to give Brandon the "talk". That night, Brandon travels to Caitlyn's house, hiding in her room until she notices him.
Returning home, Kyle finds their chickens terrified by Brandon, who is standing over them. Later that night, Kyle finds the chickens slaughtered with the coop's locked door torn off its hinges. Kyle insists Brandon was responsible but Tori insists it was a wolf attack.
During a trust fall exercise at school, Brandon falls towards Caitlyn but she does not catch him, accusing him of being a creep. When she is forced to help him up, Brandon crushes her hand in retaliation. He is suspended and required to meet with his aunt Merilee, the school counselor, but Erica demands that Brandon be arrested. That night at home, Brandon is drawn to the ship again and he breaks the lock on the cellar door. Tori interrupts him as he levitates above the open cellar, chanting the ship's message, and he falls and cuts himself on the spaceship, the first time he has ever been injured. Tori reveals the truth about his arrival on Earth, and Brandon angrily leaves, finally understanding the ship's message: "Take the world." In his rage, Brandon develops heat vision. Brandon visits Caitlyn with flowers, who tells him that her mother has forbidden her from talking to him. Wearing a red mask and cape, Brandon stalks Erica while she is closing the diner and murders her. Police investigate the scene, finding a symbol looking like two B's back-to-back drawn on a window, and Erica is nowhere to be found.
The following day at school, Brandon is meeting with Merilee, who informs him that she is required to report his progress to police, but he threatens her to not do so. That night, Brandon stalks Merilee through her house until she goes to bed. Noah arrives home from the bar with Kyle and friends to find a masked Brandon hiding in the closet and threatens to tell his parents, prompting Brandon to lash out. Terrified, Noah tries to escape in his truck, but Brandon lifts and crashes the vehicle, killing Noah. He uses Noah's blood to draw the same symbol from Erica's murder on the road. Brandon returns home shirtless, telling his parents that other students tore his shirt while playing soccer late after school, but refuses to give it to Tori.
Merilee calls Kyle and Tori and they rush to the hospital to learn from a grieving Merilee that Brandon had gone to her house, contradicting Brandon's story about playing soccer. They next morning, Tori and Kyle inform Brandon of Noah's death, but Brandon has no reaction, which alarms Tori and angers Kyle. When Kyle accuses Brandon and grabs him, Brandon violently shoves him. Kyle finds Brandon's blood-stained shirt and shows it to Tori, but she refuses to believe Brandon killed Noah.
Kyle plans a hunting trip as an attempt to kill Brandon. While Brandon is examining deer tracks, Kyle shoots him but the bullet simply bounces off of his head. Brandon kills Kyle with his heat vision.
Meanwhile, the town sheriff arrives at the Breyer's house and asks Tori to see Brandon. Tori tells the sheriff that Kyle and Brandon aren't home, so he shows Tori the symbol found at the scenes of Erica's and Noah's deaths. Tori claims ignorance, having seen Brandon drawing the symbol before, but then finds Brandon's notebook with disturbing drawings of his murders and his message to "take the world", which brings her to the realization that Kyle was right about Brandon. She attempts to call Kyle, but Brandon answers the phone and informs her that Kyle is gone. Brandon returns home and destroys the house as Tori calls the police, but Brandon brutally murders the sheriff and his deputy. Remembering that the ship can injure Brandon, Tori runs to the barn. In the cellar, she finds Erica's mutilated body nailed to a wall and surrounded by symbols in blood. Tori arms herself with a piece of the ship to stab Brandon during an embrace, but fails when Brandon anticipates the attack. Enraged, Brandon flies Tori through the barn roof and above the clouds, and drops her to her death. An airplane flies towards Brandon and the scene goes dark.
The next day, police, paramedics, and FBI are at the farm investigating the airplane crash, which killed everyone onboard. News coverage reports that Brandon is the only surviving resident of the area.
In the mid-credits scene, Brandon begins his worldwide attacks. News reports and a conspiracy theorist discuss assorted destruction in Brightburn, the existence of other super-beings, and pleads with humanity to take action.
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