When October Schwartz raises her five dead friends to investigate the cause of Cyril Cooper's death way back in 1783, she expects a dull research-based journey into the lives of Canada's earliest British settlers, the United Empire Loyalists. Instead, the members of the Dead Kids Detective Agency find themselves in a madcap adventure involving the American Revolution, a chaotic school dance, a historical sea vessel, and a boatload of supernatural shenanigans.