With a key to the Oakes School in his possession Benjamin, his friend Jill, and a new friend continue to seek ways to protect the school and their town but Lyman, the janitor and a spy, has new tricks up his sleeve.

Led by Duncan Gluestick Dewey, the NERDS team uses brain power and courage rather than gadgets when they face off against supervillian Simon, his band of savage squirrels, and Albert, a middle-aged computer genius who lives with his mother.

From his 1776 Pennsylvania homestead, thirteen-year-old Samuel, who is a highly-skilled woodsman, sets out toward New York City to rescue his parents from the band of British soldiers and Native Americans who kidnapped them after slaughtering most of their community. Includes historical notes.