When the Aldens visit their friend Fran in Wisconsin, they can't wait to hear her tell the story of the runaway ghost. Fran's family ghost hasn't been spotted in years, but the Aldens still shiver at the spooky tale of the ghost's bell clanging after dark. Then Violet hears a mysterious ringing in the middle of the night and the children start to wonder--could the runaway ghost be back?

Taking a shortcut through the Greenfield Cemetery, the Aldens stumble across a local superstition which maintains that visitors are required to leave gifts or suffer the wrath of a malevolent ghost, a suspicious tradition that prompts the children to expose the truth.