Alice MacFarlane has once again let her adventurous spirit take her into harm's way, and it's up to Annie Dawson to find Alice and pull her out of the dangerous situation. The mystery begins when Annie finds a book in her grandfather's collection in the attic of Grey Gables—the home after she inherited it after the death of her grandmother, Betsy Holden—that includes the story of a mysterious island in South Carolina wrapped up in an ancient curse. When Alice's friend, Jim Parker—an author and photographer—makes a surprise visit to Stony Point, Annie suggests that Fuller's Island might make an interesting chapter in his latest book. Annie, Alice, and Jim all laugh off the book's assertion that the island is haunted by ghost dogs after the curse was placed on it by a witch in the nineteen19th century. But it ceases to be fun and games when Alice and Jim go missing after visiting the island. Now it's up to Annie, Ian Butler—Stony Point's mayor—and the members of the Hook and Needle Club to save Alice when one of her carefree adventures once again goes awry.