Summary
Highlights
As the school year ends and summer begins, Dave, Hannah, and Curtis are excited for a summer of relaxation. However, Dave's parents announce he needs to get a summer job, despite Dave's belief that 15 is the year of the optional summer job. This news prompts an emergency meeting among the friends, as Curtis and Hannah's parents have made similar demands. They decide they need to find a way to make money quickly without actually working a traditional summer job.
Curtis cooks up a plan to hold a garage sale with all their accumulated clubhouse items, aiming to make enough money to avoid real jobs. They convince Dave's Uncle Brad to host the sale under the guise of buying a gift for Dave's mom. The sale is a success, and they raise over $4,200. However, disaster strikes when Dave's dad accidentally damages Uncle Mike's electric car windshield, costing $5,000. To cover the damage and prevent revealing their scheme to Dave's mom, they give Uncle Brad their earnings, leaving them in an $800 debt.
With their initial plan failed, Curtis proposes entering a mall contest to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar with a $5,000 prize. Hannah, using her advanced math skills, calculates the exact number. However, the prize is won by someone who simply counted all the beans. This leaves them further in debt and causes tension between the friends. Dave's lies to his parents about working as a lifeguard escalate when his mom secures new clients at the mall and his dad plans to visit him at the 'pool'.
Curtis reveals a new plan: to find the legendary Labash coins, stolen by Councilman Haft and believed to be hidden in the secret Chinatown tunnels. They embark on a quest to find the tunnels, getting a cryptic clue from a Chinese restaurant owner. They successfully locate the tunnels, but instead of the Labash coins, they find a group of LARPers, crushing their hopes of a quick payday.
Caught by Uncle Brad near the tunnels, the friends are forced to confess their fake jobs. Uncle Brad, initially furious, listens to a story from a woman about the true history of the Labash coins. She explains the coins were originally stolen from a bank in Old Chinatown and later hidden by her great-great-grandmother, Lelay Tong, before Chinatown was deliberately sunk into the bay. This revelation inspires a new plan: to dive for the coins in the bay.
The friends negotiate with a dive shop owner, Mr. Higgins, to use his equipment in exchange for a percentage of their findings. They start working at the docks to earn their diving time. Dave's lies about his lifeguard job become more complicated when his dad decides to surprise him at the pool. Hannah and Curtis concoct a plan to delay Dave's dad, leading to a comedic series of events at the pool.
Feeling guilty about his lies, Dave confesses to his dad, who offers words of wisdom about owning mistakes. Dave learns about a shoplifter at the mall where his mom works, with a $5,000 reward for their capture. Realizing this could be their last chance, the friends decide to catch the shoplifter. They pursue the suspect, who they recognize as the man who tried to buy Mr. Moneybags at their garage sale, leading them to his apartment where Hannah discovers the Labash coins hidden inside a new Mr. Moneybags figurine. They are confronted by the shoplifter, leading to a tense chase through the Chinatown tunnels.
The friends manage to escape the shoplifter, with help from the LARPers they encountered earlier. Dave finally confesses the truth to his mom, taking full responsibility for his actions. He explains that Hannah donated the original Labash coins to the Chinese History Museum, recognizing their historical importance. Unexpectedly, Uncle Mike's insurance pays out for his car, and he gives the friends $5,000, plus interest, as a thank you for their efforts. The summer ends with Dave working as his mom's assistant, and the friends having truly learned the value of hard work, honesty, and friendship.