Meet Joy Wells, an eleven-year-old literary horror fan and proud resident of Spooking, the eerie old town overlooking the plastic suburban paradise of Darlington where she and brother Byron are forced to go to school.

When the mayor of Darlington announces that a theme park is to be built over Spooking Bog -- a mysterious environment home to strange characters and quite possibly a murderous creature straight from the pages of her favorite fiction -- Joy knows she must act or eventually lose her beloved town to the mindless forces of urban development forever.

But as an offbeat young girl who already has enough problems just getting through an average day at Winsome Elementary, Joy knows it won't be easy. But what she doesn't know is that an embittered son of Spooking has also returned, and will stop at nothing to ensure the town's utter destruction...