On a calm Sunday morning in 1978 residents of Bell Island, Newfoundland hear an odd, high-pitched hum, immediately followed by a sudden and terrifying blast resounding for hundreds of miles. Outbuildings are destroyed, livestock electrocuted, televisions explode and power lines vaporize. The Invisible Machine unravels the mystery of the Bell Island boom and in doing so takes a chilling look at the U.S. militarys experimentation with electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons.

Nick Powell is an excellent high-school student who raises money by selling homework and results of quizzes to his schoolmates. He aims to travel to London for a writer's course - telling his best friend, Pete Egan, that he has already bought the airplane ticket but he has not told to his assass yet. Annie Newton has a problem with Pete, who owes money to her. As events unfold, due to a case of mistaken identity Nick takes a severe beating from Annie and her gang, his body dumped in a sewer. The next morning, he discovers he cannot be seen - he is now a spirit in a state of limbo and can only observe as the events of that day unfold.