Twelve-year-old Hattie grew up in Brooklyn, so her family's move to a small town in Massachusetts required a lot of adjustments, but by the time sixth-grade starts she has several new friends--but when she somehow invokes the harvest festival jinx, suddenly none of her new friends even recognize her, and she must find a way to break the spell.

In Fortune Falls, where superstitions are real, and all children must pass regular "luck tests" to see if they are worthy, ill-fortuned Sadie has always been deemed as unlucky, and shunted aside for her luckier younger brother--but when she finds an unusually intelligent black cat named Jinx, her fortunes begin to change for the better.