Matt Hawley has failed at life in the big city. At the suggestion of his parents, he relinquishes the joys of living with said parents and goes to stay with his relatives in Appalachia. Once there he discovers the things West Virginia never puts on the tourist pamphlets, psychobilly, tyrannical coal companies, and granny witches.

Learning his own family's secrets puts him smack dab in the middle of being nagged at by ghosts, and trying to survive when witches go to war.