 "But if you forget to come back for Madame Zeroni, you an your family will be cursed for always and eternity." Those were the exact words spoken to young Elya Yelnats the day he forgot to repay the gypsy Madame Zeroni. From then on his family was cursed with bad luck. One hundred years later Stanley Yelnats IV is accused of stealing a pair of cleats from a major league baseball player and sent to Camp Green Lake (a dry lake bead in the middle of the dessert). It never rains at Camp Green Lake, it hasn t for one hundred years. The secretive and mysterious Warrden has each inmate spend everyday digging one hole to "build character." But when an artifact from the famous "Kissing-Kate Barlow" is found in a hole, the Warrden forces the boys to work double time leading Stanley to deduce they re digging because the Warden is looking for something. But what? And how is the mystery of Camp Green Lake connected to Stanley s family curse?