Rebecca and Jack have been sent to stay with their aunt Caroline: someone they have never met, and barely heard of. Mum has been sent away, to recover, and Rebecca and Jack are in a new town, living with a relation who would clearly prefer not to know them. When Caroline says one room is strictly out of bounds, she little realises that this is a temptation too great for Jack to resist. Of course he breaks one of the china figurines so carefully harboured there, and they must find a way to replace it, and somehow placate this oddly hostile relative.