The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance.

Three Chicago students, Melissa, Wilf, and Bondi, are unlikely participants in a competition for a ten thousand-dollar scholarship, unaware that there is much more at stake.

Lured to their sick Uncle Silas's home under the pretense of becoming heirs to his vast fortune, cousins Adele, Isabella, and Milo soon learn that the old man has a diabolical plan to prevent his own death.

Twelve-year-old Seymour Hope and his ghostly "mother" Olive go to Scotland to claim a castle inherited from Ignatius Grumply's punster uncle, Ian, but while they tend an aged tortoise and face an unscrupulous developer, Iggie deals with Ian's ghost and an inept insurance agent.

While traveling to her aunt's home in Redbud by train and stagecoach, quiet young Emily and her turtle, Rufus, team up with Jackson, fellow orphan and troublemaker extraordinaire, to outsmart mean Uncle Victor, who is after Emily's inheritance.