Orphaned Bo Gamage has nowhere to go. So he ends up in the old Queen of Sheba Hotel in a ghost town in the middle of the desert. It's dry and bare and -- worst of all -- the only other kid there is his awful cousin Madeleine, who calls herself Mzzz Mad.

Soon, they're caught up in a battle for a missing map, the mystery of the tattooed head, and the search for the old Pegleg Smith gold mine. Then Bo and Mzzz Mad find themselves in deadly danger and handcuffed -- together!