Alex Connelly's parents are getting a divorce.

To make matters worse, they have refused to let him use their garage this year for the haunted house he has put on since he was very young. Fortunately for Alex, he has been temporarily allowed to live with his adoring maternal grandmother, inadvertently gaining himself a new venue for his spooky hobby—his Grandma Ruth's near-empty garage.

Strange happenings and a looming deadline

When Alex's mom starts acting all kinds of weird, and Grandma Ruth is away from home all the time (because she's managed to pass her driver's license test, after several years without a license)—and he starts to notice strange things going on during the construction of his latest and greatest spook alley—stranger than normal, that is—he considers scrapping the project entirely.

Yet... something is driving Alex to finish his haunted house at all costs! All he knows is that he has to get it finished by opening night—just before Halloween!

Family concerns and mysterious secrets

Meanwhile, Alex—left with a lot of free time to work alone and undisturbed in his grandmother's garage—is worried about his little sister, Maggie, being alone with his mom—who has begun acting very strangely and is gone from home most of the time. And his heart is breaking for his Dad, who is sad and living across town in a lonely apartment.

But unbeknownst to Alex and the rest of the family, Grandma Ruth is trying desperately to find a way to keep her daughter, Allison, from embracing the family roots into witchcraft—a tradition Grandma Ruth, herself, has spent a lifetime trying to deny, and from which she has always tried to protect her daughter.

Uncovering family secrets and facing supernatural threats

Long lost relatives come out of the woodworks. Mythical monsters are being summoned from distant quarters of the earth. Everyone is worried about Alex, too, because of the strange way his mother is acting toward him—as well as for the strange way Alex, himself, is acting.

Hope and friendship

But at least new friends offer comfort along the way. Alex just hopes that somehow his haunted house is going to save his family!