English teacher Marilou McCormick has moved to tiny Julian, California, to recuperate - but a haunted classroom was not part of her plans. A small high school in the Southern California mountains looks like the perfect place for the young teacher to start over. But the new job brings some surprises: a classroom where an eccentric teacher died eight years ago, students who seem to be possessed by characters from classic literature, a decrepit heater with a mind of its own, a semi-literate janitor who develops a sudden interest in reading, and a bus driver who claims to be a werewolf. Marilou scoffs at the portents, but when subsequent events prove she is in danger, the bus driver, Cyrus "Moondog" Nygerski, turns out to be her only ally.
