After his father dies in South Africa, preteen David Stapleton is dragged to his mother's native Wales, where they inherited a rundown cottage she plans to sell to buy a London antiques shop. Meanwhile they move in there, facing the renovation requirements she can't afford, and flirtation on more starts with notable neighbors, mainly Michael Lloyd Glynn, MP, who champions the regional nature reserve; and its greatest threat, opportunistic gold miner Sam Morgan, who just returned from South America. David is presented to helpful neighbor James Belbroughton's silver-spoon son Henry, but they are far from ideal playmates. Nothing goes right--how can everything work out right?