This is the story of Mark Carter, a fifth-grader, whose family lives in Atlanta, Georgia. Mark has an obsessive fascination with ghosts, and looks forward to his familys summer vacations on the Outerbanks of North Carolina each summer to visit his favorite relatives, his grandparents. But this year will be special because Mark will be ten years old, and will be able to spend the summer alone with his grandparents. While at his grandparents house, Mark is introduced to the areas local legend of the sightings on the high sand dunes of Jockeys Ridge, which plays an important role in young Marks fertile imagination. According to local legend, the sightings are of the poor souls who perished on the ships wrecked on the shoals off Cape Hatteras. Mark befriends an older boy, and together, they share many adventures, including a confrontation with The Ghost of the Dunes.