Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnatses. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boy's detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the boys build character by spending all day, every day, digging holes exacly five feet wide and five feet deep. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. But there are a lot of awful holes.But what could be buried under a dried-up lake? Stanly tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment - and redemption.