Dogged by bad luck stemming from an ancient family curse, Stanley Yelnats (Shia LaBeouf) has little clue that he's in for the adventure of his life when sent to Camp Green Lake, where he and his campmates -- Squid, Armpit, ZigZag, Magnet, X-Ray, and Zero -- are mysteriously forced by the camp's director (Sigourney Weaver) and her right-hand men Mr. Sir (Jon Voight) and Mr. Pendanski (Tim Blake Nelson) to dig holes in order "to build character." None of the boys know the real reason they're digging all these holes, but Stanley soon begins to question why the head of the camp is so interested in anything "special" the boys find. Through it all, Stanley and his campmates must stick together as they attempt to solve the mystery and break the Yelnats family curse.