Sent by their vacationing parents to visit Mad Aunt Mabel, Perry and Ant have an adventure, while their younger siblings Sun Dance and Beany stay at home making burglar traps and searching for a magic sword.
Spider, a baby abandoned on an English farm, grows up to be mentally slower than other children but manifests a remarkable talent for communicating with animals as he comes of age during World War II.
While recovering from chicken pox, Robin and his friends are drawn into his mother's story about the adventures she and her friends had years ago with an unusual girl who mysteriously appeared on the nearby beach.