The four Verney sisters live in a big country house with their widowed father. A dreamy life (full reading and amateur theatricals) is disrupted by the bombshell news that - oh horror! - their father is getting remarried.

In the best tradition of children's fiction, the girls are prepared to make their new stepmother's life as difficult as possible by being as troublesome as they can. After all, she's going to be a terrible witch -- isn't she?

A dated but charming froth of a YA novel.