The story starts with a man slaughtering a family in the middle of the night, but the toddler escapes and walks out the front door up the hill into a graveyard.
The ghosts in the graveyard take him in and raise him. Within the graveyard, the boy (Nobody Owens) finds a safe place to grow up.
Among the dead are teachers, workers, wealthy prigs, romantics, pragmatists and even a few children; enough people to comfortably raise a well rounded boy. They would not be able to do this without Silas. Silas is a mysterious character who is not dead and not living. Throughout the story Nobody, or Bod for short, has adventures, makes friends, and begins to learn about his past. Along the way, he meets hideous ghouls, a witch, middle school bullies and a fraternal order that is the secret to his family’s murder.
When Bod get's older he learns of why is family was murdered and what he needed to do in order to ensure his safety.
