Anne is planning a series of experiments with dry ice, but her plans are interrupted by an invitation to Charlie's birthday party. At the costume party, Anne is excited to find dry ice so she can finish her project. Meanwhile, Nick and Shania have to keep Charlie from finding out about Pal when Pal decides to tag along.

The kids decide to make a sci-fi movie, but after Shania gets a bad mark on a project about volcanoes, Grandma threatens to ground her from the junkyard for a whole month. Anne and Nick discover a way to help Shania fix her grades and make a movie about it along the way.