Ten-and-three-quarter-year-old Laura “Noodle” Newman had high hopes about going to sleepaway camp for the first time. Once she’s there, however, Noodle is miserable. No one can help her get over her terrible homesickness. Things go from bad to worse when Noodle panics while talking on the camp’s radio station. Noodle’s moment to shine becomes a bout of stage fright as her bunkmates laugh at her. As a menacing hurricane heads up the coast, life at Camp Hillside turns upside down. Through the craziness, Noodle realizes that only one person can make her feel better: herself.