When the state of Maine threatens to shut down their island's one-room schoolhouse because of dwindling enrollment, eleven-year-old Tess, a strong believer in luck, and her family take in a trumpet-playing foster child, to increase the school's population.
As the annual I. B. Rotten Competition approaches, the school's egotistical schemer, Bernie Bridges, fears that his pet parrot, Lippy, is no longer a good luck charm.
Unhappy over what he considers his bad luck, Tooley ignores his cat's warnings and invites a greedy little man into his home in the mistaken hope of improving his fortunes.