With their parents working on a boat in the Mediterranean, Tom, Carrie, Em and Michael have learnt to look after themselves - and their menagerie of animals in their tumble-down house at World's End. As their Uncle Rudolph threatens to sell their beloved home, the children are determined to earn the money to buy it themselves. But money disappears as fast as it comes in, especially when there are thirty-nine mouths to feed, and time is running...