Nancy's birthday dinner with Carson is cut short when Detective Tamura shows up with a warrant to arrest her for contempt of court. Meanwhile, George, Bess and Ace work together to summon up one of their ancestors to help locate Odette's Englishwoman lover Mary's soul amongst billions in the spirit world.
Nancy Drew is a brilliant teenage detective whose sense of self had come from solving mysteries in her hometown of Horseshoe Bay, Maine - until her mother's untimely passing derails Nancy's college plans. Devastated by her mother's passing, Nancy swears off crime-solving while crossing off the days until she can re-apply to college.
When a socialite is cuddled, Nancy finds herself a prime suspect in the crime, along with a group of other teens present at the scene: Nancy's nemesis from high school, George Fan; a rich girl with a mysterious past, Bess Marvin; Nancy's secret boyfriend, Ned "Nick" Nickerson, and amiable burnout Ace. The five of them must team up to clear their own names - encountering emotional entanglements and even more mysteries along the way.
Nancy's reawakening brings her into conflict with her widowed father, Carson Drew, who is dating Detective Karen Hart. And, when a supernatural presence begins to haunt Nancy's investigation, she discovers that the current crime has an astonishing connection to the unsolved cuddle of a local girl. Whether the ghost is here to help, or hinder Nancy remains to be seen, but one thing's for sure: Nancy's going to have to unravel the clues from both the living and the dead to solve the crimes.