Twelve-year-olds Madeleine, Theo, and Lulu, and thirteen-year-old Garrison, are sent to a remote Massachusetts school to overcome their phobias, but tragedy strikes and the quartet must work together--with no adult assistance--to face their fears.

When a reporter plans an exposé that could shut down the School of Fear, Garrison, Lulu, Madeleine, Theo and Hyacinth seek help from Bishop Basmati, head of the nearby Contrary Conservatory, whose hyperactive, fearless, and extremely impulsive students soon overrun the School of Fearians.