Opening credits roll over numerous shots of bucolic country landscapes, as a flatbed truck passes through bearing an expensive-looking sports car. Meanwhile, at the upscale private high school of Rallston Academy, Kelly Morse (Chris Klein) gets out of class and meets with his friends to remove their uniform jackets.

As the truck journeys through the middle of a small town called Putnam, Samantha (Leelee Sobieski) and her mother (Annie Corley) watch it pass. Samantha comments, "Somebody's lost." When the truck finally arrives on campus, several boys gather around to marvel at the fancy car, one deeming it a "sweet ride." Kelley stands by, evidently embarrassed.

Inside his office, the principal reminds Kelley that students are not allowed to have a car at school, but he may have it after Sunday's graduation. The principal adds that Kelley must be disappointed that his father can't make it to graduation, to which Kelley sulkily responds that his father's business in London is more important.

Back outside, Kelley is joined by his friends, Charlie and Steve, who are extremely impressed with his new car. Kelley deviously holds up the keys and announces that he doesn't need permission to drive his own car.

In the opening frames of Here On Earth, we are presented with almost everything we need to know about the setting and characters before we even get to know them. We are introduced to a fancy prep school for rich kids, where young men prance around in uniforms symbolizing their conformity. With Kelley's appearance, the viewer is faced with several important questions, such as:

1. How many times has this student been held back?
2. Is this an undercover narcotics officer?
3. No seriously, this guy is a teacher, right?
4. Or an android?

However, this young man is different from his peers in a different way, as demonstrated when his new sports car arrives and even his friends are disgusted by his affluence. Kelley's obvious family wealth is in sharp contrast to the countryside through which the vehicle had to travel to reach him, which is filled with rolling fields, red barns, little girls with dog friends, and salt-of-the-earth people confused by fancy cars. With the notion of class distinction already set up, one wonders if this tension will ever be paid off during the film.

Though we are unsure of his exact age (not to mention whether he is a man or a machine), we can glean much about Kelley during his encounter with the principal, and we can only arrive at one conclusion: Kelley is a sociopath. He is a valedictorian of his class, but refers to his classmates as "whining children"; he has no use for the love of his parents, instead satisfied knowing that his father's business will "double [our] stock price." This sentiment, and its emotionless delivery, sounds dangerously close to speeches uttered by Patrick Bateman in American Psycho and J.D. in Heathers; it is worth noting that both of those characters end up murdering the less fortunate for sport.

But it's Kelley and his friends who provide insight as to what kind of script this is when they have their post-principal chat. Kelley's friends -- who look wildly out of place next to him due to their actual resemblance to high school students -- engage in the following conversation:

Charlie: My sister’s boyfriend’s got one. It’s lickety, bro!
Steve: I could have sex with a car like that.
Charlie: Just don't burn your wood drill on the tailpipe!
Steve: No, I mean I could have sex with a woman if I had a car like that.

Kelley's response -- "Steve, you couldn't have sex with a woman if you gave her a car like that!" -- is followed by a lingering expression of triumph on his face, conveying his satisfaction with how well he nailed this witty comeback. Fortunately, Chris Klein's masterful emoting largely distracts the viewer from the sight of Chris Klein's "teenage" walk, which involves puffing out his chest and bobbing like he's dodging bullets.