Plot : A vindictive woman, Carrigan Crittenden, is upset upon the reading of her late father's will that she was given creepy Whipstaff Manor in Friendship, Maine instead of his fortune, but she changes her tune when she learns that there is a hidden treasure within the property. She and her assistant Dibs go to the house attempting to investigate, but discover that it is haunted by a friendly ghost named Casper and his obnoxious prankster uncles, the Ghostly Trio (Fatso, Stretch and Stinkie), who immediately frighten them off the property. Carrigan tries multiple methods to rid the house of ghosts, but fails time and time again. Meanwhile, Casper sees a report of a paranormal therapist, James Harvey, and is immediately smitten with his teenaged daughter Kat. He quickly inhabits the television in Carrigan's hotel room in order to convince her to have the Harveys come to the manor to investigate the haunting.
James and Kat's relationship is strained, after the death of her mother and his wife Amelia, he devotes all of his time into finding her, believing her to have unfinished business and having not moved on to the afterlife. As a result, Kat has had no chance to make friends as they are constantly moving across the country. Upon arriving in Maine, Casper's plan to befriend Kat and her father backfires when his chaotic uncles come home and try to force the Harveys out. James stands resolute and manages to successfully move in. Kat tries to fit in at school, inadvertently gaining popularity for staying at the popular Whipstaff manor and winning the students over for a Halloween party there instead of the popular Amber's boat house where it would have been less authentic.
Meanwhile, the trio tries to make peace with James and even say they will find Amelia for him, while Casper and Kat become friends. Kat learns that Casper does not remember the details of his life, so she takes him to remember it; eventually coming across an old abandoned toy room. Casper begins to remember details of his life, and when he comes across a sled he remembers that he died of an illness (likely pneumonia), when he stayed out late in the cold, playing with it, but he chose not to move on, in order to take care of his lonely father. He also remembers a machine his father created called the Lazarus, capable of bringing a ghost back to life. Carrigan and Dibs overhear this and contemplate one of them dying and coming back as a ghost in order to get into the vault supposedly containing the treasure they sought. Carrigan tries to kill Dibs, but accidentally falls from a cliff, killing herself instead.
James and the trio go out to several bars, as James becomes increasingly drunk, the trio decides they could always have fun if they make their trio a "quartet" by killing off James. However, they grow to like him too much and decide they can't kill him, especially after James tells them he's going to tell Carrigan to leave them alone. Instead, a drunken James falls to his death in an open manhole. Back at the manor, Carrigan as a ghost stops the Lazarus machine before it can resurrect Casper (having earlier learning there was only one dose of the potion to bring him to life) and steals the treasure. She also throws Dibs, who finally grows a spine and stands up to her, out the window, but Casper and Kat trick her into admitting that with her treasure and the potion to bring her back to life she has no unfinished business, and she is involuntarily ejected to the afterlife.
The treasure, revealed by Casper, is a Brooklyn Dodgers baseball signed by his favorite player Duke Snider. James returns home, now a ghost and does not recognize Kat until she shows him who she is with a pinky promise. Casper then gives up his chance at a new life in order to bring James back to life. The party starting downstairs, Kat goes down to greet the guests, while the trio scare off Amber and her boyfriend Vic who had arrived to sabotage the party. Amelia appears to Casper and for his sacrifice, she gives him until the stroke of 10 to be human. Casper approaches Kat, who does not recognize him until they start dancing while Amelia, who reveals the Ghostly Trio found her, tells James that she was so well taken care of during life that she has no "unfinished business", and pleads James not to make finding her become his own. At the chime of 10, just as Casper and Kat kiss, the spell breaks and he becomes a ghost again. He says "boo" to the guests, but they scream in terror and flee the manor. Not wanting to let a party go to waste, James leads the trio into starting a Halloween party all their own. Casper, Kat, and James dance as the Ghostly Trio play music for them.
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