Disgraced tutor Neil Stuart, Matt Farley, returns to his hometown of Rivertown, USA to attend his god cousin’s wedding, having previously been exiled from town for his claim of a “riverbeast” living in the nearby woods, and his reputation further damaged by defamatory articles written about him by local reporter Sparky Watts, Kyle Kochan. He moves back in with his former bandmate Teddy Hollingsworth, Tom Scalzo, and discovers his ex-fiancée Emmaline Price, Elizabeth M. Peterson, has since become engaged to the volatile Danny O’Grady, Nick Lavallee, with whom she plans to raise Bradley, Danny’s son from a previous marriage.
Neil reconnects with fellow Rivertown tutors Milly Jensen, Ricky Mapleton, and Troy Kiel, Bryan Fortin, and begins picking up tutoring jobs around town, including that of Allie Stone, Sharon Scalzo, a perceptive yet lazy local teenager and aspiring journalist who’s struggling with her grades at finishing school. With encouragement from Allie, Neil sets out to restore his reputation and win back Emmaline, first by proving the existence of the riverbeast with the help of famed big-game hunter Ito Hootkins, Jim Farley. Meanwhile, Teddy begins busking in a local park and falls in love with Pamela Gladwell, Tiffany L’Heureux, a free-spirited vagabond and dancer who joins him in busking. She gifts him a packet of kitty litter, which she claims is one of the world’s most versatile materials.
Neil’s attempts to improve his reputation are consistently ruined by Sparky, who reports his activities with Ito as the actions of a delusional madman. However, the riverbeast soon begins slaughtering various citizens who enter the woods, including Danny and Sparky, while Pamela goes missing, devastating Teddy. Sheriff Paultique Hanson believes Neil to be responsible and enlists Allie’s stern father Frank, Kevin McGee, to conduct a citizens’ arrest, locking Neil in the town jail. Allie pledges to prove the riverbeast’s existence and free Neil’s name, teaming up with Ito and Troy in order to do so. However, the plan goes awry when the riverbeast attacks and kills Ito and Troy. Their disappearance, along with Bradley’s account of having witnessed his father’s death at the hands of the riverbeast, convinces Hanson to free Neil on the condition that he kills the riverbeast.
Neil enters the woods with Teddy and Milly, and the trio rescue Allie, whom the riverbeast has been hunting after the killing of Ito and Troy. While Neil observes that the riverbeast needs to consistently hydrate itself in order to survive, Allie flees and alerts Frank to the riverbeast’s presence, prompting him to join the others in confronting it. During the ensuing battle, the riverbeast knocks Teddy and Milly unconscious before killing Frank, then sets its sights on Neil. Neil, using some of Pamela’s kitty litter given to him earlier by Teddy, manages to dehydrate and ultimately kill the riverbeast.
One year later, Neil has restored his reputation and resumed his relationship with Emmaline, with whom he plans to raise Bradley, while Allie has become an investigative journalist and written articles about the group’s encounter with the riverbeast. Rivertown holds a ceremony commemorating those involved in the incident and unveils a silver statue of Frank in honor of his memory. Pamela arrives during the ceremony and explains to Teddy that she had left town to continue her freewheeling lifestyle, only to realize she wants to live a life with Teddy, and the two reconcile. Allie asks Hanson for a final word regarding the incident, to which he reveals that the President of the United States has acknowledged the bravery of the town’s citizens before Hanson himself proclaims “we didn’t let the riverbeast get us.”
