Henry Abbott is growing up in South Trenton, New Jersey during the 1960s. He attends St. Mary's Byzantine Catholic school and sells newspapers on Sunday at his father's service station. He meets Danny, who leads him on an adventure to the abandoned Bow Hill mansion, where Napoleon Bonaparte's brother, Joseph, the King of Spain, had once lived with his beloved, Anette, a commoner who worked in a tie shop in Philadelphia. Her ghost is rumored to haunt the estate in search of her lost ring. A floundering basketball player, Hank plays on the school team, along with his younger brother Jeremy, because his father, Joe, is the team coach. The Abbott family moves to the suburb to care for Henry's grandmother, and his enrolls in the public school system. He meets Jack Malloy, an eccentric English teacher who conducts his film study class like a major Hollywood studio. Henry learns the art of filmmaking when he joins the Filmnuts. The Filmnuts congregate in the Nutroom, a teacher's prep room attached to Malloy's classroom, preparing their Super-8 films for the June festival assembly. He meets Pharo, who first bullies and then befriends Henry, and Jane, an artist whose creative talents he admires.
