Stand By Me begins as viewers look across a country field where an old Hummer sits on the side of the road. We see from the headlines in the newspaper that Attorney Chris Chambers was stabbed in a restaurant. Two boys ride by on their bicycles, passing the Hummer with the writer inside. The writer begins to think and narrate:

"I was twelve going on thirteen the first time I saw a dead human being. It happened in the summer of 1959 - a long time ago, but only if you measure in terms of years. I was living in a small town in Oregon called Castle Rock; there were only twelve hundred and eighty-one people, but to me it was the whole world."

The audience then sees Gordie Lachance, a young boy, looking at magazines in a convenience store. He goes to a tree...