After being orphaned at an early age and spending years in boarding schools, Dilly begins a new life in a real house in a small town, developing secret magnetic powers under the tutelage of a kindly professor.
Jilly and Peanut write a play and it is so good their class is going to put it on! Then Jilly refuses to be in it because she does not like being in the spotlight.
First the Alcott School library springs a leak--then the roof caves in. And there is no money for a roof. Peanut and Jilly want to raise money to fix it up.