Aru Shah attends a private middle school where she is desperate to fit in with her jet-setting classmates. But while they vacation, Aru is stuck spending break at the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture where her mother is the curator. So Aru makes her life seem more interesting with a few lies. But when three of her classmates come to the museum and catch her in her lies, Aru attempts to appease them by taking their dare to light the supposedly cursed Lamp of Bharata. She couldn't have known she'd awaken an ancient demon and freeze her mother and classmates in time. Now Aru must stop the demon before it's too late.