Frank Gaze, known by his friends as Scouty, is accompanying his father on a trip to India during World War I. When an enemy vessel destroys their ship and all on board must flee in lifeboats, Scouty is separated from his father. He and his companions become separated from the other lifeboats and are forced to land on a deserted island in the Indian Ocean.

After a heart-rending discovery of Norbett spending time with another girl, Beany is delighted to have an opportunity to go away on a road trip to California with her brother Johnny and her little nephew. Tight finances and a favor to a friend cause the trip to become harried with a whole array of fellow-travelers (and a horse). Kindly, motherly Miss Opal doesn't have money, but performs near-miraculous feats of producing food and lodging out of thin air (not to mention her tomato plant in the back seat). Cynthia forces herself upon the group through kind-hearted Johnny.

Fifteen year old Beany is a practical and competent high school sophomore. She knows just how to make the grocery budget stretch just right. She looks out for ways of making people feel more comfortable. From the moment she heard about her long lost cousin, 18 year old Sheila McBride, she pictured a desolate and helpless soul needing a mother hen to make her feel welcome and give her an easier time of things after the difficult life she's led. But from the moment Sheila arrives, everything seems to go wrong. Sheila isn't very talkative and is fond of her gaudy clothes.

In this second book of the series, 16 year old Beany struggles with the tendency of her family to "stick their necks out" for others at the risk of disappointment, emotional stress and failure. Johnny is busy trying to help an older, forgetful man write a book he's always wanted to write, but may not live to finish. Mary Fred is struggling with the fickle sorority girls in college and Elizabeth anxiously awaits her husband's return from the war.