Bella Gossi just moved from New York City to the Massachusetts beach town of Shiver-by-the-Sea to live with her Uncle Van. Bella's excited about helping her mom fix up the old movie theater, but she's already missing her old home and her old friends, and just driving through downtown, it's pretty clear that this place has seen better days.

After meeting Cooper and his adorable basset hound, Casper, things start looking up. But when mom tasks them with clearing out an old trunk from the theater and picking the first movie they'll show, that's when the trouble begins. Out of the trunk pops a bat! But not just any bat . . . a kid vampire. A very hungry, very scared kid vampire, who's lost and doesn't know how to get home to his family.

Bella and Cooper are a little frightened at first, too, but soon they're on a mission to help Bram find his way home, because that's what real friends do.