The parents of 12-year-old D.J. Walters leave town for the weekend, leaving him in the care of his babysitter Zee. D.J. has been spying on his elderly neighbor Mr. Horace Nebbercracker, who confiscates any item landing in his front yard. After D.J.'s best friend Chowder loses his basketball on Nebbercracker's lawn, DJ is caught by Nebbercracker while trying to retrieve it but the enraged homeowner apparently suffers a heart attack and is taken away by ambulance. That night, D.J. gets phone calls from the house with no one there, and eavesdrops on Zee's boyfriend Bones telling Zee about losing his kite in Nebbercracker's lawn when he was younger and that Nebbercracker supposedly is a cannibal.