When the kind-hearted orphan Reynie Muldoon wins a scholarship to the prestigious Boatwright Academy, his life is changed forever… just not in the way he imagines. Alongside a group of gifted (be them odd) youngsters, Reynie undergoes a series of grueling tests to prove his mettle. After overcoming their initial trials, Reynie and his new companions, the quiz-show champion Sticky Washington, the circus performer Kate Wetherall, and wild-card Constance Contraire are tasked with a mission far more perilous than they could have imagined. Their benefactor, the mysterious Mr. Benedict, tasks them with infiltrating the L.I.V.E. Institute. Their mission? To stop the worldwide Emergency, which has the masses living in a state of crippling anxiety due to a constant onslaught of bad news. The new school is a challenge all its own, including unfriendly classmates, bizarre classes, and a shockingly familiar headmaster, Dr. Curtain. The children must stick together and use their strengths to prevent their expulsion and stop the Emergency. While undercover, Reynie and Sticky join Curtain's elite Messengers and uncover the machine responsible for the Emergency's transmissions – the Whisperer. Mr. Benedict, along with his cohorts Number Two, Rhonda, and Milligan, devise a way to reach the children. As Dr. Curtain gears up for the next phase in his plot – known as the Improvement – Mr. Benedict and his colleagues devise a plan to extract the children, the mission clearly becoming too dangerous to continue. As Constance's sensitivity to the Whisperer comes to a head, the kids realize they're almost out of time, and devise a risky plan to stop Dr. Curtain once and for all. In an epic showdown of wills, the Mysterious Benedict Society finally takes down the Whisperer once and for all and the group rejoices, having saved the world. Mr. Benedict invites the team to his mansion for a final reunion and all is well. Or so it seems for now, as Dr. Curtain and his cronies have managed a daring escape...