Jake Semple is a scary kid. Word has it that he burned down his old school and then was kicked out of every other school in his home state. Only weeks into September, the middle school in Traybridge, North Carolina, has thrown him out too.

Thirteen-year-old E.D. Applewhite, still reeling from her bewildering kiss with former bad boy Jake, embarks on a cross-country road trip in a wildly painted school bus with her eccentric, highly creative family, as they compete in an art educational quest for a big cash prize.