Five days until Halloween and all hell is about to break loose. And it's all Crystal's fault. Momma warned her not to consort with the dead and tried to teach her the magic spells that would close the portal to the afterlife. But Crystal doesn't want to be a trailer-trash witch like Momma. She has dreams of going to community college and escaping the Appalachian town of Parson's Ford. Her best friend Bone is only too happy to escape the afterlife and help Crystal break the rules. Bone died too young, and she'll do whatever it takes to remain among the living. Then a teen movie maker comes to Parson's Ford, and he has a very special project in mind: a horror movie starring a real ghost. The kids who watch his movies turn into brainwashed zombies. And to totally complicate matters, Crystal thinks he's kind of a hunk, and she's afraid her boyfriend Pettigrew only loves her because of Momma's magic spells. Now it's Halloween, the night when the portal to the afterlife is widest, and somebody's been messing with Momma's potions. The fate of the world is in Crystal's hands, but she hasn't been paying attention to her lessons. And a mysterious figure in the afterlife is urging Bone to stay loyal to her own kind instead of to Crystal. The movie is rolling, the creatures are stirring, and the brainwashed teenagers are ready to welcome a new star from the other side of the grave. Crystal and Bone must overcome drama queens, coffin cuties, and mangled magic if they want to remain best friends forever-but at this rate, forever may not last much longer.