Eleven-year-old Max Edgars would rather be anywhere but his grandmother's house for a month this summer. With her creepy dirt basement, oppressive household rules, and cryptic warnings to steer clear of the locked-tight storage under the garage, his one escape is playing along the gentle creek that hugs the far end of her property. When it floods on the third day, even that option is taken away by his increasingly unhinged grandmother. Only when he braves the basement and forbidden garage does Max begin to understand his grandmother's past and her hidden loss. Even worse, the darkness that spawned her dogged adherence to 'the rules' returns with the rising of the creek's chaotic waters. Max must trust magical strangers and brave a journey through the frenzied waters to its dire source if he has any hope of unlocking the mysteries of Arcana Creek.