When Jake Culpepper's pa goes West in search of a new life and then mysteriously disappears, it's up to twelve-year-old Jake to reunite the family. He talks his brother Charlie, eight, into running away from their aunt's farm and traveling half way across the country to Carson City, Nevada, where the boys begin the adventure of a lifetime. Jake and Charlie team up with their Uncle Max, a private investigator, who agrees to travel with them to Bodie, CA, the roughest, toughest town in the West and the last place their pa was last seen alive. First though, they must solve the mystery behind a haunted house in Aurora, NV, a town on the way to becoming a ghost herself.
Along the way, they encounter several colorful characters: a superstitious man with a story to tell, a ruthless bandit with a sentimental streak, and a pretty little girl who sets Charlie's heart afire – not to mention the "ghosts" of the old Colgate mansion. Stagecoach robberies, falling chandeliers, booby traps and a midnight trip to a cemetery are some of the adventures Jake and Charlie must survive before they can even begin to look for their pa.