Cole is the oldest of two young boys growing up with their brilliant scientist and father, Professor Stubbins. One of the things the boys enjoyed the most was helping their dad reconstruct dinosaur skeletons that the professor brought home from the college because of the lack of lab space needed for the reconstruction process. One day while the professor was away Ricky was helping Cole sort through a new crate of bones when he accidentally cut his hand on one that broke open when he tried to bust off some petrified dirt. The break in the bone revealed a green glow that quickly seemed to dry up and fade away. The boys stuck the two pieces back together and except for a bandage on Ricky's hand all but forgot about the incident until Ricky started to exhibit two things: First he begins to develop some rather unusual skills - typical of a young strong dinosaur and Second he begins the process of dying due to a disease that would prove to be millions of years old. In his garage the professor stored his nearly completed "Crowning Achievement" called the "Rediscover Time" machine which was based on his theory that time could be accessed through a portal that is stored in a hidden dimension of DNA streams. He believed that any period of history could be tapped into if there was some DNA from that time available. He called it his DNA Synchronicity theory which stated that current living DNA can be taken out of sync with older DNA resulting in a person being transformed to the time and space of the older DNA. Unfortunately the funding to complete his machine was cut off when no one accepted his theory as valid or useful. The really sad part was that to complete the machine it he needed a flawless minimum fifty carat diamond so that he could activate light at all frequencies at the same time. Estimated cost of such a diamond? Who knows... Week by week Cole tried to convince his mother that Ricky was acting stranger by the day. Meanwhile at the lab the professor had just finished assembling the Dinosaur skeleton that supposedly infected Ricky. It was a very young Albertasaurus, nearly complete, except for the left foot bones. The professor noticed a sticky substance on a joint near the calf and upon close inspection with the lab's electron microscope found what looked like blood from the dinosaur mixed with human blood. He shared this with Cole and they began to piece together what was possibly wrong with Ricky. The professor had a new theory, 'his youngest son may have been infected with a disease that is millions of years old.' During a school field trip to the famous Royal Tyrrell dinosaur museum Ricky started to hallucinate that the dinosaurs in the exhibits were alive. He is able to cause severe panic among all the kids from his school and when the dust settles and everything returns back to normal Ricky is no where to be found. It turns out he has gone off to look for the left foot bones to the Albertasaurus the professor has in the lab. After an exhaustive search of the area by the whole town, Ricky is finally found at the bottom of a cavern in shock still wearing his school backpack. He is rushed to the hospital at the point of near death. All seems lost for Ricky till mom goes through his backpack like someone looking for comfort through an old photo album. She finds an unusual stone stuck to what appears to be the foot bones of a young dinosaur. After careful examination they are identified as the foot bones from the professor's Albertasaurus and a perfect diamond big enough to complete the "Rediscover Time Machine!" The machine is quickly completed and tested only to discover that the diamond is too small to take the professor back in time. Cole is forced to volunteer and the adventure truly begins when he is successfully transformed to the time and space of the Albertasaurus.