Jillian Guiler (Melinda Dillon)’s Timeline and Summary

Jillian wakes up to find her son, Barry, wandering into the woods. She searches for the boy and finds him just in time to prevent him from being Wile-E-Coyoted by Roy's truck.
She brings Barry to the UFO watcher's hill and meets up with Roy. Roy notices Barry sculpting a mountainous image in mud and recognizes it as the one he's been seeing since that night.
The aliens crash in on Jillian and Barry. She tries to keep her son safe, but the aliens abduct him after he crawls through the doggy door.
After making a report to the police, Jillian's hounded by reporters looking for a story.
Some time later, she sees the news broadcast about the chemical spill in Wyoming and recognizes Devils Tower as the image she's been obsessively sketching since the UFOs arrived.
In Wyoming, she's reunited with Roy. The two drive toward Devils Tower but are captured by the government.
Jillian and Roy are put on a helicopter with the other Wyoming pilgrims. Before they can be flown out of the evacuation zone, they escape and trek toward Devils Tower.
After climbing Devils Tower and narrowly escaping the military, she and Roy stumble upon the alien landing site.
Jillian watches humanity make first contact with their extraterrestrial visitors. When Barry's released from the mother ship, she heads down to the landing site to be reunited with her son.