On a snowy Saturday in December 2016, 9-year-old Chris Eriksen wakes up and designs a costume for his pretend superhero alter ego, Captain Spirit, whereafter he is called to breakfast by his father, Charles Eriksen. Charles is revealed to be a single father who loves his son but has a terrible vice--alcoholism. He chugs a beer with his breakfast while talking to his son about their plans to get a real pine Christmas tree, but he says he wants to watch the basketball game first. While at breakfast, Charles also comments on a bruise on Chris's arm where he grabbed him while drunk, implying a history of physical abuse that Chris is expected to keep secret to avoid getting him in trouble.
Charles goes to watch the game with a half-full bottle of whiskey in hand and tells Chris to wake him up when it is over if he falls asleep.
While he waits for the basketball game to get over (which takes 23 minutes in real time), Chris gives himself a list of tasks and begins to construct the costume he designed after waking up, giving us a glimpse into his world and his imaginary superhero Captain Spirit.
We learn more about his mother Emily, including the fact she once went to the Blackwell Academy and fell in love with his father Charles at Eugene College. They got married and had Chris on February 8, 2007. The couple moved to Beaver Creek one year after Chris was born, where Emily and Charles both got jobs at the local school district. Emily was Chris's kindergarten teacher and Charles worked at the same school as a basketball coach following the end of his athletic career. The three of them were a happy family for seven years, with Emily supporting Chris's artistic talents and imagination. They took a family trip to the Trout Spring Trail near the Nisqually River in 2014, carving their names into a picnic bench, which can be spotted by the player when Sean and Daniel Diaz visit the same location in "Roads".
Emily's life ended in tragedy, as she was killed in a hit-and-run on December 16, 2014. Charles was devastated by her death and fell into a cycle of alcoholism and despair while working obsessively to find the culprit in her homicide. Despite two years of letters and calls to law enforcement and a private investigator, her killer has not yet been found. Due to his alcoholism, Charles was fired from his job at the school and is currently working for a railroad company.
In an attempt to move on from Emily's death, Charles is currently seeing a woman named Audra, who he has yet to introduce to his son. It is implied that she works for a lewd adult club called the Kitty Klub and that Charles has kept her a secret from Chris due to shame.
Chris completes his Captain Spirit costume by collecting its three pieces around the house and spray painting it in the garage, becoming strong enough to defeat the Snowmancer and the Water Eater. Likening his father's car to a spaceship, he takes it to the home planet of his arch-nemesis, Mantroid, who is strongly implied to be the personification of his mother's death. Unlike with the other villains who Captain Spirit crushes, he is unable to defeat Mantroid in his imagination.
The player designs Captain Spirit's costume at the beginning of the game. Throughout Chris's quest, the player decides whether Captain Spirit kills or forgives his enemies after he defeats them, whether he intervenes to save the innocent, and whether he sees his parents as his heroes or solely relies on himself.
After the basketball game is over, Chris finds his father asleep in his chair, and he wakes his father as he was told to do. Charles is still very intoxicated and falls twice, the second time knocking over a side table. He swears and yells at Chris. The neighbor Claire Reynolds is out for a walk and hears the commotion. She rings the doorbell, and an angry Charles sends Chris to the door, telling him to get rid of whoever is there. Chris and Ms. Reynolds have a conversation, and Chris can choose to reveal his father's wrongdoings or lie to cover for him, resulting in one of three possible endings:
- If Chris tells the truth or gets caught in a lie, Claire will be certain he is being abused. She will leave and promise to return immediately with Stephen Reynolds to have a serious chat with Charles.
- If Chris lies successfully after raising Claire's suspicion through his earlier actions, she will think that something might be wrong but have no proof to stage an immediate intervention. She will leave and tell Chris he can talk to her at any time.
- If Chris lies successfully without raising Claire's suspicion, she will not suspect anything is wrong. She will invite Chris to play with her two grandsons, Sean and Daniel, who are visiting for Christmas.
- The following actions will make her suspect abuse and neglect. Performing even one of these on a playthrough will lock Chris out of receiving the third listed 'ending,' but can unlock additional dialogue with Claire:
- Displaying the bruise on Chris's arm. (Chris can choose to either tell Claire it was his dad or lie about it.)
- Taking out a recycling bin full of beer cans. (Claire will realize Charles's alcohol problem and can comment on how he must have 'tripped over all those beer cans.')
- Shoveling the steps. (Claire can comment on how Chris should be out playing like a real boy on a Saturday, not doing the chores.)
- Smoking a cigarette in the tree house (Claire can comment that Chris smells like an ashtray and say she hopes he won't pick up his father's smoking habit.)
- Lighting a firecracker. (Claire can comment on how it sounded like the 4th of July at the Eriksen residence.)
- The following actions will make her suspect abuse and neglect. Performing even one of these on a playthrough will lock Chris out of receiving the third listed 'ending,' but can unlock additional dialogue with Claire:
After Claire leaves, Charles begins yelling at his son once again and blames him for Emily's death, stating if it weren't for Chris, she wouldn't have taken the car out on the night that she died. Charles immediately apologizes and says he didn't mean it, but Chris refuses to accept it. He runs out of the house in his socks to his tree house.
While climbing up the tree house ladder, a board comes loose, and Chris falls. Just before reaching the snow, a supernatural force saves him from injury by causing him to hover and gently land on the ground. He gets up and checks himself over, baffled as to this 'power' that he felt. He then notices two children in the Reynolds's back yard waving to him, Sean and Daniel Diaz, and he waves back.